The PP and Vox plan to defend their respective amendments in their entirety with alternative text this Thursday in Congress, with the intention of halting the processing of the reform of the Regulations promoted by several government partners to soften the conditions required for minority parties to have their own parliamentary group in the Lower House.
The Plenary Session already admitted for processing at the end of May the proposal presented by ERC, Junts, Podemos, Compromís, and the BNG, which was approved thanks to the support of the PSOE. Now, this Thursday's session will serve to debate the alternatives proposed by PP and Vox, who, along with Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN), opposed the regulatory modification at the time.
The so-called reform of the minorities seeks to change Article 23 of the 1982 Regulations, which currently stipulates that to form a group, 15 deputies are required or, failing that, at least five seats and 5% of the votes at the state level, or 15% of the votes in all constituencies where the candidacy has been presented.
With the registered initiative, Pedro Sánchez's parliamentary allies seek to lower the state vote threshold required to form a group from 5% to 3%, and reduce the percentage required in the provinces where they compete from 15% to 10%.
PP and Vox reject changing the percentages
In their alternative texts, which Europa Press has accessed, PP and Vox propose to keep the current percentages intact. Furthermore, Santiago Abascal's party proposes to prevent deputies belonging to the same party, federation of parties, or parties that ran in the elections in the same coalition from forming separate groups.
With this measure, they aim to put an end to practices such as the temporary loan of deputies from majority parties so that minority forces can reach the minimum necessary to form a group, a formula they consider a "fraud of law" tolerated by the Congress's Board in different legislatures.
At the beginning of the current legislature, neither ERC nor Junts met the requirements set by the 1982 Regulations and resorted to loans from parliamentarians from the PSOE and Sumar: four deputies from the PSC were provisionally integrated into Junts' group and two from En Comú temporarily joined Esquerra. After the Board's approval of the constitution of these groups, accepting the loans, the deputies from the PSC and En Comú returned to their respective groups.
Political and economic advantages of having one's own group
Having one's own parliamentary group entails significant political, economic, and resource benefits. Those who achieve it ensure a distinct voice in all debates, a minimum representation in committees, in the Permanent Deputation, and in the Spokespersons' Board, as well as the possibility of asking a question in each control session of the Government. On the economic level, having a group guarantees more subsidies and the collection of aid for electoral 'mailing'.
Likewise, Vox has incorporated into its alternative bill several of its usual regulatory demands, such as restoring Spanish as the "obligatory language" in all parliamentary activity, vetoing the add-ons in the act of swearing or promising the Constitution that deputies make when taking office, or imposing that the Chamber must always rule on requests for authorization, since they are currently considered denied if no express agreement is reached within sixty days of their receipt.