The PSOE's predictions about what the legislature can bring to the Senate have not taken long to come true and the PP has begun to assert its absolute majority in the Upper House to erode the first initiatives launched by the socialists. In this case, the formation of the largest possible number of parliamentary groups contrary to the tacit understanding of Popular and Vox.
The Bureau of the Senate, the governing body of the Upper House, in which the populists enjoy a majority of four to three over the socialists, met yesterday for the first time in the legislature to process the creation of the different parliamentary groups and gave the green light to the constitution of three of these groups: that of the PP, that of the PSOE and that of Esquerres per la Independencia, which form the senators of ERC and EH Bildu.
Instead, he decided to freeze the registration of the parliamentary groups that, in order to meet the minimum of 10 senators, need the loan of socialist seats. Namely, that of the PNB, that of Junts per Catalunya –two formations that, paradoxically, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, wants to attract for his investiture attempt–, and that of Esquerra Confederal, in which there are constituent parties of Sumar such as Compromís and More Madrid.
Despite the fact that the practice of borrowing is common both in the Senate and in Congress, the first vice president of the Senate, Javier Maroto (PP), justified the suspension of the process due to the need to request a report from the Chamber's legal services on the formation of parliamentary groups when "there are more borrowed senators than own". And since the "legal clarification" requested by the Bureau could take between a week and two, its president, the also popular Pedro Rollán, decided to put the formation of the aforementioned parliamentary groups on hold. The delay can also serve as a malevolent formula to bring PNB and Junts together pending a favorable verdict from the Bureau.
The truth is that, as those affected complain, the regulatory neatness displayed by the PP does not agree with reality, since, in the case of the PNB, the Basque nationalists have five senators, which is why they require a loan of five more. Whereas in the case of Junts – which has added its three representatives to the Canarian Coalition, the Associació d'El Hierro Independent (AHI) and the BNG – they are senators for a total of four cessions. "It's pure incoherence", summed up PSC senator Eva Granados.
It is another thing, nowadays, that of Esquerra, which currently has four senators – More Madrid, Compromís, Agrupació Socialista de La Gomera (ASG) and Evissa/Formentera in the Senate – but that, as soon as Navarre designates the representative of Geroa Bai, will need five loans.
The sources consulted by La Vanguardia see behind the movements of the PP a single intention, which is to "dilate" the process and "muddy the ground", since, they predict, the lawyers' report will not contradict what has been done so far a common practice in the Senate. And for this same logic, the PSOE did not want to make statements at the end of the Bureau meeting because it considered that, sooner or later, the PP will end up accepting all the registrations.
Added to the applicants' arguments is the decision of the Constitutional Court of June 2017 in favor of the protection appeal drawn up by Senator Josep Lluís Cleries for the refusal of the PP that the PDECat have its own parliamentary group in the Senate, since no point in the regulation states the minimum number of senators required. "The PP is looking for a partial victory after the setback it suffered on Monday in Congress with the same formation of the parliamentary groups", point out resigned sources of the affected formations.
