The Spanish Socialists (PSOE) and their largest ally, the left-wing Sumar, are starting to make movements in the Congress of Deputies aimed at catering for the needs of potential partners in the hypothetical investiture of Pedro Sánchez, as well as complying with agreements already signed that allowed Francina Armengol to be voted in as speaker of the Congress of Deputies. All this while Alberto Núñez Feijóo ventures into an improbable investiture and accumulates rejections. Sources within Yolanda Díaz's Sumar have confirmed that they will cede two deputies to the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) so that the Republicans can have their own parliamentary group and, pending official confirmation, the PSOE is likely to employ a similar scheme so that Together for Catalonia (Junts) will have the same conditions in the lower house. The initiative takes place in the context of the current negotiations to try and win the pro-independence parties' support for a Socialist-led progressive government in the State.
With two days left until the deadline for setting up parliamentary groups, the gestures by the PSOE and Sumar will allow the two Catalan parties to qualify to have their own groups in one of the three ways that this is possible. That is, winning at least 5 seats and obtaining at least 15% of the votes cast in the constituencies where they stood - the four electoral demarcations of Catalonia where they were on the ballot. ERC and Junts both won seven deputies; the "transfer" of deputies will bring their effective percentage of the vote in Catalonia up to the 15% needed. The other two ways of qualifying for a group, as defined by the regulations, are out of reach of ERC and Junts: they were far from 5% of the votes in the entire state, and also well short of the 15 deputies which would give them a direct right to have their own group in Congress. The transfer of deputies is a practice not regulated in the regulations, although historically the Bureau has accepted it.
In the case of ERC, Sumar is to cede one deputy from the Comuns in the Barcelona demarcation and another in that of Tarragona to ERC so that, in this way, Gabriel Rufián and his colleagues will overcome the 15% barrier of votes in Catalonia as a whole - in fact, they reached 13.1% on 23rd July. After the general election, ERC only crossed the 15% threshold in Lleida (18.6%) and Tarragona (15.07%), and fell short in Barcelona (12.3%) and Girona (14 .74%). Similarly for Junts, and with an official announcement pending, the Socialists are considering applying a similar formula, since Puigdemont's party also fell short of the threshold established in the regulations, at 11.16%. They exceeded the 15% barrier in Girona (19.60%) and Lleida (18.04%). On the other hand, their performance was weaker in Tarragona (11.08%) and Barcelona (9.68%).
The advantages of a Congressional group: money and visibility
Having one's own parliamentary group in Spain represents a cluster of advantages for political parties which can be summed up in terms of additional resources and greater parliamentary visibility. In the economic regard, it means a fixed subsidy of 30,346.72 euros per month and a variable subsidy of 1,746.16 euros per month for each deputy. On the political side, having your own group means, among other benefits, having more speaking time in debates, being able to seek answers from the government at each parliamentary question session, and more ability to introduce legislative initiatives. Without their own group, these parties would be part of the so-called Mixed Group, along with other smaller parties, who all have to share speaking time equally and have more limited powers of questioning the executive and presenting texts to the chamber.
The move will facilitate a progressive investiture, say Comuns
The deputies transferred to ERC will be from the Catalan branch of Sumar, that is, En Comú Podem, which believes that the gesture towards ERC "is a declaration of intent" for what they hope will be "a fluid and long relationship in the coming years", "as well as a good signal of accord over the possible negotiation of an upcoming investiture". "We want the next four years to be the plurinational legislature that consolidates a progressive government", say sources from the Comuns.