The Congress Regulations Committee has given the green light this Tuesday, with the votes against from PP and Vox, to the modification of the Chamber's internal rules designed to facilitate minority parties having their own parliamentary group. This is a reform promoted by ERC, Junts, Podemos, Compromís, and the BNG that has drawn harsh criticism from the two right-wing parties.
After overcoming this first step in committee, the report will be sent to the Plenary Session of Congress, which will debate and put it to a vote on July 23, with the intention of it being approved and coming into effect in the next legislative term.
The objective of these parties is to amend Article 23 of the 1982 Regulations, which currently stipulates that to form a group, it is necessary to have 15 seats or, alternatively, to achieve at least five deputies and exceed 5% of the votes nationwide or 15% in all constituencies where a candidacy is presented.
With the new wording, Pedro Sánchez's parliamentary partners seek to lower the state vote threshold required to create a group from 5% to 3%, and reduce the percentage required in the provinces where they compete from 15% to 10%.
During the subcommittee meeting, an amendment proposed "in voce" by Junts was also incorporated, which further flexibilizes the conditions for forming a parliamentary group. Currently, the rule indicates that at least 10% of the votes must be obtained in all constituencies where one competes, but Carles Puigdemont's party has proposed that this requirement only be demanded in those provinces where representation is obtained.
Political and economic advantages of having one's own group
At the beginning of the current legislative term, neither ERC nor Junts met the requirements set by the 1982 Regulations and had to resort to loans of deputies from the PSOE and Sumar to be able to form their own group. This formula was endorsed by the Congress's Board of Directors thanks to the majority formed by PSOE and Sumar, who in turn gained control of the Chamber's governing body with the votes of the Catalan pro-independence parties.
Having its own group entails significant benefits in political, economic, and resource terms. Whoever achieves it has a differentiated voice in all debates and secures at least one seat on parliamentary committees, on the Permanent Deputation, and on the Spokespersons' Board, in addition to a question in each control session of the Government. From a financial point of view, it implies receiving more subsidies and accessing aid for "mailing".
PP and Vox try unsuccessfully to toughen the rules
In the committee, an amendment by the PP that sought to end the principle of equity between parliamentary groups in force since 1982 was rejected. The Popular Party advocated for applying a strictly proportional criterion, so that subsidies, speaking times, and material resources would be distributed based on the number of deputies in each group.
The "Populars" also proposed, unsuccessfully, to modify the current article 27 so that, when the number of members of a group other than the Mixed Group "is reduced during the course of the legislature to less than the minimum required for its constitution," said group would be automatically dissolved and its members would join the Mixed Group. Nowadays, dissolution is only foreseen when its components fall "to a number below half of the minimum required".
Likewise, the PP's proposal to eliminate the figure of the associated deputy, provided for in the Regulations but barely used, which allows parliamentarians who do not register in any group at the beginning of the legislature to associate with an already constituted group to avoid ending up in the Mixed Group, has been rejected.
Nor have the initiatives of Vox prospered, which advocated eliminating the regulatory provision that authorizes moving from one parliamentary group to another, except to the Mixed Group, during the first five days of each session period. With this amendment, Vox sought to put an end to temporary transfers of deputies.
PSOE, Sumar, and their usual allies have also rejected Vox's proposal to prohibit parties that ran in the elections integrated into the same coalition from forming their own parliamentary group.