The liturgy of democracy is fulfilling stages. Between the order to attempt the investiture given by Felipe VI to Alberto Núñez Feijóo on Tuesday and the subsequent vote on September 26 in Congress, there will be an extensive round of negotiations led by the PP.
But these negotiations, in turn, could not start without the registration of the parliamentary groups completed yesterday, in which the PSOE and Sumar made use of their specific weight to make it easier for Junts and ERC to obtain them by lending them several deputies. So, adding the PNB and EH Bildu, the progressive alliance will articulate a large chorus of voices against the candidacy of the leader of the PP, who will have to settle for the support of Vox, since the interventions of UPN and Coalició Canària (CC) will be reduced within the mixed group.
This is possible under the rules of the Congress, which allows parties with more than 15 seats or those which, with a minimum of 5, exceed 5% of the votes in all of Spain or 15% in the constituencies in which they have been presented.
Being scrupulous about the result of 23-J, the PP, the PSOE, Vox and Sumar fulfill the first requirement; while EH Bildu and the PNB, the second. Not Junts and ERC, which, despite having obtained more than five deputies, do not reach the 15% required in some of the constituencies where they appeared in the past elections. That is why they requested from the PSOE and Sumar, respectively, a loan of deputies who, once the final composition is confirmed, will return to their parliamentary groups of origin.
The PP protested this move yesterday. And he even described it as "a bit of a fraud", in the words of his spokesman Borja Sémper, ignoring that in previous legislatures it was precisely the popular ones who took the lead in this same loan to, in their case, favor CC. Specifically, in 1996, under the ferocious discipline of José María Aznar.
The reality is that there is no rule as such that regulates this figure. This is a procedure that both Congress and the Senate authorize "in exceptional cases" to favor the formation of groups and avoid an excessively voluminous and potentially ungovernable mixed group.
Beyond enjoying more intervention time in the debates, having its own parliamentary group means a series of political advantages such as having representation in all the commissions, having a spokesperson who attends the meetings, having a weekly quota in the control session or more possibilities to bring legislative initiatives to plenary. And we must not forget that, according to article 28 of the Congress regulations, the groups also receive a fixed subsidy that this year was 30,346.72 euros per month, plus a variable one of 1,746.16 euros for each deputy. Thus, each training would pocket more than two million euros in a legislature. Figures and privileges that must be distributed among all participants within the mixed group.
Moved to the investiture debate on September 26 and 27, and seeing the disposition of each other on the board, Feijóo will count in his favor with the intervention of the popular speaker, Cuca Gamarra. And presumably with that of Pepa Millán (Vox) and the UPN representative.
While they have intervened against Patxi López (PSOE), Marta Lois (Sumar), Aitor Esteban (PNB), Mertxe Aizpurua (EH Bildu), Gabriel Rufián (ERC) and Míriam Nogueras (Junts).
Apart from serving to illustrate the lack of support for Feijóo for the investiture, the pacts closed yesterday would allow the pro-Sánchez flank, as long as the socialist succeeds in being re-invested as president, to multiply his squad of archers to overwhelm the opposition task of the popular.
Exactly the same as the PP has arranged in the Senate thanks to the absolute majority it treasures both in the chamber and in the Bureau of the Upper Chamber, which in this case would allow it to hinder and slow down much of the legal and budgetary progress led by the socialists in Congress through vetoes or commissions of inquiry.
And the first opportunity to do so will not be long in coming, since the Senate Bureau must decide next week whether to allow the loan of senators from Sumar and the PSOE to ERC and Junts in the Upper Chamber or if it chooses to leave the aphonic chorus
