The decision by Together for Catalonia (Junts) and the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) to accept deputies being loaned to them from the Catalan Socialists (PSC) and Sumar, respectively, in order to be able to create their own parliamentary group in Spain's Congress has caused an enormous debate in pro-independence circles, especially among their supporters on social media. It is normal for such a controversy to have arisen, and much more so when this type of thing, which is normal parliamentary practice in the Spanish houses of parliament and is handled with a certain political courtesy, has been carried out with enormous secrecy, more so in the case of Junts .
It would have been easier to explain this as soon as the negotiation for the Congressional Bureau was completed with the PSOE and Sumar, and to recognize that, in addition to being able to speak in Catalan in the Congress of Deputies, and the Spanish government having asked for the official recognition of Catalan in the European institutions, it had been agreed that there would be deputies temporarily transferred to meet the numerical requirements and thus form a parliamentary group. And yes, there are many advantages if you have a group, including economic ones. To deny that is a lie, and would be childish and pointless. As it is also true that the deputies on loan to create the group return to their original party immediately, and that in the groups created there are only parliamentarians from ERC, in one of them, and Junts, in the other.
But there are also political advantages, since the impact of what you end up saying or doing in Congress in its day-to-day work can be given additional value, both on the parliamentary podium and in the various committees, including the one to be created on the terror attack on Barcelona's Rambla, or the one that will be revived on Spain's political espionage. Article 74 of the house's regulations establishes the enormous difference it makes to a party's ability to defend its political position in plenums if it has a parliamentary group or not, and Article 28 stipulates that Congress will make available premises and sufficient material means to those parties with groups, and will assign them - from the parliamentary budget - a fixed subsidy and another variable one according to the number of deputies in each group.
Although the political reasons are important enough on their own to reach accord with the PSC or Sumar on a parliamentary group, the step also makes a significant impact on the coffers of both Junts and ERC. Much more significant, given its current economic situation, to the former; Together for Catalonia would be in serious difficulties without the parliamentary group and what it entails. But all of this must be explained - just as the real information must be shared about the fact that no-one is so idiotic as to negotiate a parliamentary group in exchange for an investiture, since they are completely different questions. You don't have to be transparent, but you do have to explain yourself and not hide, especially because it comes from the party that it comes from.
The same happens in the Senate, where the options of having a parliamentary group for Junts - not for ERC, which has already one, in association with Bildu, without any problem - are enormously more difficult. Junts has 3 senators and 10 are needed. To reach that figure, the 2 of the Canarian Coalition and the single MP for Galicia's BNG have been added, bringing the total to six. The other four are provided by the PSOE. The problem does not end here, as it must be approved by the Bureau of the upper house, which thanks to its absolute majority is controlled by the PP, which should say no. But, we'll see, because Feijóo wants to talk to Junts about his investiture, in apparently impossible conversations. And it's not the best way to try to convince someone, to kick them in the mouth. Who knows if this cannon shot will also work out well for Junts? Being in a position to decant the balance of power also offers such things