It has been unanimous, or almost, between the independence parties, ERC, Junts and the CUP. They have joined the commons and even some deputies, clueless or not, from the PSC. But not Laura Borràs. The former president of the Parliament, sitting as usual in the box of the Catalan Chamber reserved for the authorities, did not join the applause after the announcement of the acquittal of Roger Torrent and three other former members of the Parliament Bureau – Josep Costa, Eusebi Campdepadrós and Adriana Delgado – issued this Wednesday by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) in their trial for disobedience.
The Regulations of the Parliament, in its article 234, establish that the public attending the sessions must always maintain silence and order, and they are not allowed to express their approval or disapproval of any kind. Part of the public has applauded the announcement of the acquittal of the previous Board, while Borràs remained without making any gesture. In the other box of authorities, Joan Josep Nuet, General Director of Institutional Relations and Parliament, also remained silent.
It is not unusual for there to be applause from the audience, accompanying the applause of the deputies themselves, when institutional declarations are read or legislative initiatives whose promoters from civil society are present in the chamber are approved. What the Chamber staff always try to avoid is interrupting the session with gestures of approval or disapproval.
Junts had clearly expressed his support. Even Borràs has been clear in a Twitter message: "I celebrate the acquittal of the previous Parliament table, where the citizens of Catalonia are represented, it must be possible to talk about everything. Debating can never be a crime." However, already in the chamber, the former president of Parliament has neither stood up nor applauded when her replacement, Alba Vergés, has announced her acquittal.
"They were being judged for having allowed free parliamentary debate in this chamber, we consider this judicialization of the policy of which they have been victims for exercising their rights and the rights of all unacceptable," Vergés proclaimed, in a speech in which he defended that Parliament should be "the bulwark of democracy and a guarantee that preserves the right of deputies to express themselves freely". "It is good news", he has settled.
Laura Borràs was suspended as president of the Parliament last July due to her open case for alleged crimes of prevarication and document falsification during her time at the head of the Institute of Catalan Letters (ILC), between 2013 and 2017, just before opening his political stage.
Since then, the first vice-president of the Chamber, Alba Vergés, has exercised her duties and Borràs regularly attends the Parliament box so as not to miss the sessions. This Wednesday has not been the exception.
Unlike Borràs, the deputies of Junts did stand up and applaud the announcement of the acquittal of Torrent, Costa, Campdepadrós and Delgado. Also those of ERC and, of course, the members of the Government, now monochromatic republican.
The deputies of the CUP and the commons have also joined the applause. Even, timidly, some representative of the PSC, like Raúl Moreno, Esther Niubó or David Pérez. Not so its leader, Salvador Illa, who, in fact, entered the Chamber just as the applause ended, moments before the control session began with the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès.
Borràs herself has claimed that "despite the constant interference to which the Parliament has been subjected", in this legislature, with her at the head of the Chamber, "self-determination and monarchy have already been discussed", issues that had led to Torrent, Costa, Campdepadrós and Delgado to the bench of the defendants of the TSJC.
