The start of the new parliamentary course is approaching, and the balance of the first session of 2022 shows that 32 Valencian representatives in Congress recorded 6,139 parliamentary initiatives, including oral and written questions, requests for reports and appearances.
According to official data from the Lower House on the activities of the Alicante, Castello and Valencia parliamentarians, more than 5,000 of the 6,139 initiatives submitted in total correspond to written questions to the Government and must be answered within a maximum of 40 days. Most of the questions are presented jointly by deputies from the same organization but from different provinces.
So, despite the large number of questions raised by the Valencian MPs, the Valencian Community is not a hero in them, as a general rule, with some exceptions. The bulk of those recorded by Compromís deal with specific issues in Valencian territory. Its content is so far from that recorded by Vox MPs that it is difficult to find any reference to the Valencian Community. Therefore, the signature of a local representative does not imply that the subject to be discussed affects the Community in any way.
The far-right party is the most active formation. Its seven representatives submitted 4,273 questions and requested 91 reports between January and July of this year, corresponding to the first session.
People’s Party representatives follow them with a total of 1,445 initiatives with 1,414 questions coming to the fore. The main opposition party also requested the contents of 23 reports in this session. There is more distance with the parties that make up the government. Since January, PSPV’s Valencia MPs have recorded two oral and 115 written questions. United We Can adds a total of 56 initiatives submitted, of which it is worth highlighting 13 report requests.
Admin Control
One of the purposes of parliamentary initiatives is to control the work of the government. Therefore, the parties that make up the Executive, although they have more representatives and media, often present data on parliamentary initiatives that are smaller than others. For example, at the first session of 2017 under the government of Mariano Rajoy, the “popular” MP Belén Hoyo recorded only three questions. However, now that his party is in opposition, this number reaches 366 in the same time frame.
The opposite is the case of socialist MP Ana Botella, who submitted 159 written questions between January and July 2017. On the other hand, Botella, who currently chairs the Education and Vocational Training Commission, has recorded 15 questions since January.
With only two Valencian representatives in the chamber, Ciudadanos is on the verge of a hundred startups registered in recent months. For his part at Compromis, his sole assistant, Joan Baldoví, submitted two oral, 62 written questions and requested six reports. Parties that are less represented in Congress, as a general rule, have less influence. This is mainly due to the scarcity of tools and resources compared to large groups.
Individually, the podium of the most active parliamentarians is completely occupied by Vox: Eduardo Luis Ruiz, deputy from Alicante with 1,105 registered parliamentary initiatives; Valencia MP Cristina Alicia Esteban with 926 and Ignacio Gil Lázaro again with 756 for Valencia.
At the bottom of the table we see the socialist and former minister José Luis Ábalos, who so far this year has not offered any initiative. He is accompanied by party members Yolanda Seva and Josefa Andrés, each recording a question in turn.
Most-speaking deputies in parliament
Parties that are less represented in Congress, as a general rule, have less influence. This is mainly due to the scarcity of tools and resources compared to large parliamentary groups. The record of parliamentary initiatives is a good index for comparing the activity levels of MPs, but it is not the only one.
The number of interventions made by the deputies in the general assemblies and commissions is also monitored and presents a different reading from the previous one.
In the same time period, from January to July, María Muñoz, head of the Valencian Citizens list, intervened 151. That’s almost the same number as seven VOX MPs for the Valencian Community, who have spoken a total of 160 times during that time. Baldoví also crosses over a hundred looks, well above Ábalos, whose only intervention so far this year is from March.
Hoyo, the popular MP who posted the most questions, only appeared 17 times.
In United We Can, the opposite happens: Alicante’s representative, Txema Guijarro, presented only eight initiatives from January to July, speaking 60 times during this first session period, making him the most active member of his group.