Congress plans to reactivate this week the reform of its Regulations with which it intends to specifically order the Chamber's relations with interest groups and reinforce the disciplinary regime for deputies who fail to comply with the established obligations. This step comes just after last Thursday the consideration of another regulatory modification was approved, aimed at allowing the temporary suspension and the imposition of fines of up to 2,000 euros on parliamentarians who disturb order and are expelled from the Plenary Session.
This latest review was registered by the PSOE following the expulsion in mid-April of Vox deputy José María Sánchez, who was forced to leave the hemicycle after climbing to the rostrum where the Congress's Board is located and confronting a lawyer and the socialist Alfonso Rodríguez Gómez de Celis, who was then acting as president of the session.
Now, the other reform, also promoted by the PSOE a year ago, aimed at regulating relations with 'lobbies' and toughening the internal sanctions system, will be reactivated. To this end, the committee responsible for analyzing the amendments presented by the different groups to this bill has been convened for Tuesday.
Sanctioning Procedure and Possible Punishments
The proposal contemplates that action can be taken against deputies or parliamentary groups that violate the obligations derived from the Regulations and the Code of Conduct of the Cortes Generales, especially against those who do not register their declarations of assets, activities, and economic interests, omit relevant data, or include false information.
Infringements may be brought to the attention of the Deputies' Statute Commission by a parliamentary group, the Congress's Board, a commission, or the Chamber's General Secretariat. This body will decide whether or not to open a procedure. If it rejects it, it must inform the Board, which will have one month to revoke that decision if it deems it appropriate.
If the Commission finds grounds for investigation, it must hear the accused, carry out the evidence it deems necessary, and close the investigation within a maximum of four months. Depending on the severity, it may propose graduated sanctions ranging from a simple warning and the publication of the infringement on the Congress's website to the withdrawal of internal positions and salary supplements.
The final word on the sanction will fall to the Plenary of Congress. In the event of the most severe measure, a deputy could be left receiving only their basic constitutional allowance.
ERC and Bildu ask to curb revolving doors
Although the sanction scheme has barely received any significant amendments, several groups have indeed proposed changes to the part of the socialist initiative dedicated to the regulation of interest groups. ERC and Bildu propose that former senior government officials and former deputies and senators cannot represent interest groups in Congress until four years have passed since they leave their posts, with the aim of avoiding the well-known "revolving doors" between the Administration and the private sector.
The PSOE's text currently sets a two-year period of incompatibility for those who have been members of the Courts or have held senior government positions. However, ERC and Bildu consider this period to be insufficient and propose to double it.
In their amendment, obtained by Europa Press, they argue that this will strengthen "guarantees of integrity and prevent possible conflicts of interest," advance towards "a more ethical and transparent framework in the relationship between the public sector and interest groups," address the social demand to curb "revolving doors," and comply with international recommendations on good governance and the fight against corruption.
Expand the concept of influenceable personnel
The PNV, for its part, does not dispute the two-year period included in the socialist proposal, but it does intend to broaden the scope of those who will not be able to carry out lobbying activities in Congress, encompassing all "public personnel susceptible to influence," in line with the draft law on interest groups that remains stalled in the Chamber.
Specifically, Article 3 of that Law on transparency and integrity of interest group activities considers members of cabinets who perform functions of trust or special advice to the Government, public management personnel, and other employees of the General State Administration and its institutional public sector who participate in public decision-making, the drafting of regulations, or the implementation of policies, as influenceable.
In this way, Basque nationalists want to prevent all of them, in addition to former deputies and former senators, from being able to carry out lobbying activity in Congress for two years after leaving their positions.
The PP has presented another amendment focused on former deputies who engage in activities of representation of interests or of a general nature directly linked to the parliamentary decision-making process.
Its proposal requires them to inform the Chamber of these tasks and that they cannot benefit, "for the exclusive purposes of influence activity" and while they carry it out, from "the prerogatives granted to former deputies in accordance with the regulations established for this purpose by the Board and without prejudice to what is established in the incompatibility period".
Exclusion of non-profit associative fabric
Junts has proposed amendments to specify that the influence activity that is intended to be regulated in the parliamentary sphere must be carried out "professionally".
In turn, PNV, ERC, Bildu and BNG have registered proposals to refine the bill and exclude non-profit social and associative entities from this regulation, so that they can continue to maintain contact with parliamentary groups without needing to register in the future Registry of 'lobbies' that is intended to be launched.