The parliamentary activity of the Congress of Deputies has still not definitively started after the Cortes were constituted on August 17 and the Chamber is still pending a second investiture plenary session and the formation of a new Government.
Almost two months have passed and activity in Congress is at a minimum. And although the Board of the Chamber has met six times and there have been three meetings of the Board of Spokespersons, a calendar of ordinary plenary sessions has not yet been approved.
Uncertainty in Congress after 23J
The electoral result of July 23 and the uncertainty of who could be a candidate for an investiture has slowed down the life of the Lower House, which has only held five plenary sessions: the two linked to the reform of the Regulations to implement the use of co-official languages in Congress and the other three sessions linked to the failed investiture of the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
The legislative parliamentary commissions, permanent and non-permanent, have still not been established and everything seems to indicate that the process will go slowly, once the doubt is cleared as to whether the general secretary of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, manages to overcome the investiture and form a Government.
Three months could pass without activity in Congress
Until that date, three months could pass without Congress resuming its activity at one hundred percent, which on the other hand is also affected by the preparation required by the Chamber of the Chamber before Princess Leonor’s swearing-in to the Constitution. scheduled for October 31.
The truth is that since the beginning of September, contrary to usual, the halls of Congress have been empty and the bustle that accompanies the plenary sessions can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Beginning of the XV Legislature in Congress
The debate on the co-official languages, with the deputies debuting Catalan, Basque and Galician in the Chamber, marked the beginning of the XV Legislature , which was followed by Feijóo’s investiture debates, but after two weeks of parliamentary intensity, the deputies have returned to their offices.
The work of controlling the acting Government is done with hundreds of written questions – 235 registered to date -, which the Executive has begun to answer the first week of October, responding to 41 of them.
Initiatives, such as legal and non-legal proposals, have also been registered since August, although they are awaiting debate in plenary session or in committee.
The Congress Board is responsible for approving the composition and constitution of these parliamentary commissions.
Sources from this body insist to EFE that work is being done on parliamentary procedures, such as the constitution of non-legislative commissions, since for the Commission on the Statute of the Deputy and for the Petitions Commission their constitution was agreed upon in the last meeting.
Feijóo’s failed investiture
“In the coming weeks more progress will be possible, both in committees and in the plenary calendar,” emphasize the same sources who point out that Feijóo’s failed investiture process has also slowed down parliamentary deadlines.
First registered initiatives Among the first registered legal proposals are those of the PNV, on August 29, to reform the Organic Law of the Judiciary, the Constitutional Court or on the reform of the law on official secrets.
Sumar also registered its first bill on September 22 to reform the Penal Code to protect freedom of expression, while ERC did the same on the same dates to guarantee the right to autonomy of the will of athletes.
All of them, along with non-law proposals, legislative initiatives and agreements between communities add up to almost fifty.
Opposition complaints
Some opposition parties such as the PP and Vox have asked the Board on several occasions for a control session of the Government, even if it is in office.
“This Government has not submitted to the control of Parliament for more than 140 days, an abnormality that the Chamber protects by taking refuge in organizational issues.
Issues that have not prevented modifying the functioning of Congress, installing translators and headsets and executing budget items to pay for them,” the Vox parliamentary group criticizes EFE after remembering that they have registered 39 parliamentary initiatives.
The Popular Party have also criticized on several occasions the lack of control of the Executive so far in the Legislature and deny that being in office prevents it from responding to current political events, currently focused on an amnesty law.
Other socialist parliamentary sources reminded EFE a few weeks ago that this is not the same case that occurred in the 11th Legislature, when the Government chaired by Mariano Rajoy was in office for six months.
On that occasion, with Patxi López as president of the Lower House, all the commissions were established so that parliamentary activity would not be slowed down.
Source EFE
