The vote on August 17 to elect the members of the new Congress Table will be decided by just a few votes, according to the Government. Aware of how tight the election of the Presidency, vice-presidents and secretaries will be, yesterday the PSOE held the first face-to-face meetings with its potential allies in the Lower House to secure a majority in the three scheduled votes. ERC and the BNG have already passed through the offices of the acting Government and advanced that their option is a "progressive" Table. It remains to define the position of the PNV and that of Junts, both defining.
The acting Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, ended his vacation and went to Congress this Thursday to give impetus to the negotiations. He, along with the Secretary of State for relations with the Cortes, Rafael Simancas, lead the contacts, but yesterday they avoided revealing any progress. “It is essential that we be discreet, responsible and prudent,” Bolaños said.
Simancas did meet with Teresa Jordà, the number two of ERC for Barcelona, to learn about the demands of the Republicans. The independentistas do not give priority to being part of the Congress Table, but rather they seek that the PSOE facilitates them to return to chair some parliamentary commission of some importance. During the last legislature, ERC presided over the Industry, Commerce and Tourism committee, and in the previous one it chaired the Science, Innovation and Universities committee.
Jordà guaranteed the support of his seven ERC deputies for the PSOE in next Thursday's vote and advanced that his negotiating position is to stand "next to the supposed state progressivism." Esquerra therefore accepts that a PSOE candidate preside over the chamber while waiting to find out who the candidate will be. The Republicans, with zero interest in presiding over this body. From their position, they consider that regional nationalisms should not be at the forefront of the Table. Thus, the Socialists informed them that they plan to propose a specific name next week. Sources close to the negotiations included the name of the former president of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, as a possible candidate.
The ERC spokesperson also took it for granted that the PSOE "will guarantee" that both Republicans and Junts will have their own parliamentary group during the next legislature. PSOE sources added later that there will be no impediments to this support, which would leave the mixed group with three formations: BNG, UPN and CC.
The votes of the Table are still pending the position of Junts, which yesterday declined to make statements. Its deputies, led by Miriam Nogueras, also collected their credentials in Congress, and avoided offering any public statement. Contacts with the PSOE are already developing.
Jordà did want to appeal to Junts and insisted on the idea that the independence movement has before it a "golden opportunity" to assert its positions -both in the negotiations for the Table and a subsequent investiture, as well as for the legislature. ERC and Junts add up to 14 deputies who do not "start from scratch," said the Republican. "The last four years a lot of work has been done," recalled Jordá, reaching out to the other pro-independence party with which they intend to form a common front to put the Catalan agenda at the epicenter of state politics. "There has to be good sense," she claimed.
When asked if the latest resolution of the Constitutional Court - which on Wednesday rejected Carles Puigdemont's amparo appeal to annul his national arrest warrant - could be an obstacle in the negotiations to form the Board and the next progressive investiture, Jordà He was blunt: "It shouldn't affect." This is so because he framed it in the alleged "general cause" that the State launched in 2017 against the independence movement, although he called "shameful" the fact that the two conservative magistrates who control the Holiday Room this first half of August of the guarantee court did not even admit to processing -as has been done up to now with everything related to the process- to be debated in plenary, where the progressive court has had a majority since January.
The elected deputy of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), Néstor Rego, who also collected his accreditations yesterday, showed his willingness to support a composition of the Table that reflects "the political plurality of Congress."
A formation that has not yet stated what its position will be in the votes on Thursday is the PNV. After rejecting an agreement with the PP, its five deputies plan to go to Congress next Wednesday to collect their accreditations. EH Bildu, for its part, has set Monday as the date for this procedure that its six parliamentarians have to comply with, although sources from the formation give it certain support for the left-wing bloc. The PSOE would add 166 supports, compared to the 171 yeses that the PP has for a hypothetical investiture of Feijóo.
Ferraz has decided to compartmentalize the negotiations of the Table and the future investiture that Sánchez plans to try, as he advanced in the video recorded to his militancy before starting the holidays. The week is coming with high tension.
The lack of seats for a majority in the sum of PP, Vox, UPN and CC forces the popular ones to seek votes or abstentions in nationalist parties to gain control of the table and, later, achieve the investiture of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. In this sense, Elías Bendodo, popular general coordinator, claimed yesterday in an interview on RNE that "you have to talk to all" the political parties but "not swallow everything."
When asked by Junts, Bendodo insisted on the PP's ability to "talk to everyone", although he specified that this does not mean "agreeing with everyone" or "swallowing everything". The popular general coordinator assured that "we have not established contacts" with Puigdemont's party, although he recalled that "the result of the investiture will depend on Junts."
It should be remembered that at the end of July, the PP's deputy secretary for regional and local coordination, Pedro Rollán, opened the door for the first time to speak with Junts “within the Constitution”. However, that statement was refuted shortly after by Alejandro Fernández, leader of the PP in Catalonia, and Cuca Gamarra, spokesperson for the party in Congress. "We will not have any type of negotiation with Puigdemont," Fernández declared.
From the Popular Party they are aware that for Feijóo's investiture to prosper they need the abstention of a nationalist party such as the PNV or Junts, although the first of them has ruled out that option. In this sense, Bendodo recalled that "today the PP is four votes or four abstentions" from a majority. "Sánchez only adds 121, not even Sumar has said yes to him," added the popular coordinator.
In the same line that Cuca Gamarra drew last Wednesday after the meeting of the Steering Committee of the PP, Bendodo assured that they aspire "to preside over the Congress Table", to which he has given importance by being "the one that leads the debate."
The popular general coordinator also hopes to "form a government alone, with PP ministers nothing more."
