Catalan Democratic Party won’t have its own group in the Spanish Senate

Barcelona (CNA).- The new political force which has emerged in Catalonia after former governing party liberal Convergència’s foundational congress, the Catalan Democratic Party (PDC), won’t have its own group in the Spanish Parliament. Thus, the new party will be represented within the Mixed Group, together with the other minority forces in the Chamber. PDC, which obtained 4 senators in the 26^th of December Spanish Elections, had aimed to add two senators from left-wing pro-independence ERC to their four, two from the Canarian Coalition (CC) and two from Basque nationalists Bildu to reach the 10 senators needed to have a group. This is the first time that the former Convergència party won’t have its own group in the High Chamber since democracy was restored in Spain, in 1977.

The decision was made thanks to the opposition of the four PP members in the Senate’s Bureau, who voted against PDC’s proposal to have its own group in the Spanish High Chamber. The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) abstained from the vote and the other member in the Senate’s Bureau, representing the Basque Nationalist Party (PNB), voted in favour.

According to Spanish Senate Vice President and PP senator Pedro Sanz, PDC’s proposal “was more like a mixed group” since “there would be more members from other parties than from PDC”.

Moreover, it is still not sure if the PDC, which obtained 8 MPs in the last Spanish Elections, will have its own parliamentary group in Spain’s Lower Chamber, the 350-seat Spanish Parliament.