Congress has given new impetus to the modification of its Regulations with the aim of making it easier for minority formations to have their own parliamentary group. The proposal, promoted by ERC, Junts, Podemos, Compromís, and the BNG, overcame the reporting stage this Friday, despite the rejection of the PP and Vox.
The parliamentary journey of this reform began at the end of May, when the Plenary Session accepted its consideration with the support of the PSOE. Already in June, the alternatives registered by the 'popular' and Vox were rejected, and next Tuesday the text is scheduled to be discussed in the Regulation Committee.
According to the calendar managed by the PSOE and its allies, the intention is for the reform to be definitively approved in the Plenary Session scheduled for July 23, so that it can be applied in the new Congress that emerges from the next general elections, as parliamentary sources have indicated to Europa Press.
In fact, one of the technical amendments incorporated this Friday in the report makes it clear that the reform will only come into force in the next legislature, so the current deputies will not be able to benefit from the new criteria.
Minority forces intend to change Article 23 of the 1982 Regulations, which currently requires a minimum of 15 seats or, at least, five deputies and 5% of the votes at the state level or 15% in all constituencies where they have run, to have their own group.
With the proposed modification, Pedro Sánchez's parliamentary partners want to lower the percentage of votes in the country as a whole required to form a group from 5 to 3%, and the threshold required in the provinces where they run from 15 to 10%.
Advantages of having your own group
At the beginning of the current legislature, neither ERC nor Junts met the requirements set out in the 1982 Regulations and were forced to resort to borrowing deputies from the PSOE and Sumar to be able to form their own group. The Congress Board endorsed this formula thanks to the majority formed by PSOE and Sumar, who in turn took control of the Chamber's governing body with the votes of the Catalan independentists.
Having your own group entails significant political, economic, and resource benefits. Whoever achieves it guarantees a differentiated voice in all debates and, at a minimum, a representative in parliamentary committees, in the Permanent Deputation, and in the Spokespersons' Board, in addition to a question in each control session of the Government. On the economic level, it implies receiving more subsidies and accessing aid for 'mailing'.
In their alternative texts, the PP and Vox defended maintaining current percentages intact to put an end to the usual practice of temporary loan of deputies by large parties to small formations so that they can form their own group, something they consider a "fraud of law" tolerated by different Congress Bureaus over several legislatures.
Rejected amendments from PP and Vox
In their partial amendments, both groups took the opportunity to try to introduce other changes to the Regulations, but their proposals were rejected by the majority of PSOE and Sumar in the Bureau of the Regulations Commission, alleging that they affected articles unrelated to the regulation of parliamentary groups.
The same fate befell an initiative by Vox that intended to oblige separatist formations to renounce defending their positions as a condition for having their own group and which, in case of non-compliance with these commitments once the group was constituted, empowered the Bureau to dissolve it.
This amendment was rejected for incurring "a blatant and evident contradiction with the Constitution" since, according to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, "the model derived from the Constitution is not that of a militant democracy".
The rest of the amendments did pass the formal filter, but none have been incorporated into the report of the committee, so they remain alive for discussion in committee. In this context, the PP proposes to put an end to the principle of equity between parliamentary groups in force since 1982 and to apply a criterion of strict proportionality, so that subsidies, speaking times, and material resources are distributed according to the number of deputies in each group.
The 'popular' also propose to amend Article 27 so that, when the members of a group other than the Mixed group "are reduced during the course of the legislature to less than the minimum required for its constitution", that group is dissolved and its deputies automatically move to the Mixed group. Currently, dissolution is only foreseen if the members are reduced "to a number less than half of the minimum required".
Likewise, the PP advocates for the suppression of the figure of the associated deputy, barely used, which allows parliamentarians who at the beginning of the legislature do not join any group to subsequently associate with an already constituted one to avoid ending up in the Mixed group.
For its part, Vox proposes to eliminate the article of the Regulations that allows changing parliamentary groups, except for the Mixed group, during the first five days of each session period, with the intention of ending temporary assignments. Furthermore, it maintains another amendment to prevent parties that ran in the elections as part of the same coalition from forming their own group.
ERC and Bildu support Junts' amendment
In the subcommittee meeting, Junts has introduced an 'in voce' amendment that further flexibilizes the conditions for constituting a parliamentary group, as confirmed to Europa Press by parliamentary sources.
Currently, the regulations require reaching at least 10% of the votes in all constituencies in which one competes to be able to create a group. The proposal from Carles Puigdemont's party suggests that this percentage only needs to be met in those constituencies where representation is obtained.
The amendment has also been subscribed to by ERC and Bildu and has received the support of all groups except PP and Vox. This maneuver has provoked complaints from Santiago Abascal's party, which denounces that the change was introduced "without notice, out of time and with the endorsement of the Congress's senior legal advisor", whom they accuse of having become an "ally of separatism".
From the Vox parliamentary group, they criticize that, with this modification, it is practically guaranteed that the government's partners will maintain their group status "even if they suffer the collapse that the polls anticipate".