The Borràs case marks the return to Parliament's activity

The interim period that the Parliament is experiencing as a result of the suspension of the rights and duties of its president, Laura Borràs, after the judicial process issued by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), will be the first issue to be dealt with in the new political course , which effectively begins next week.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
25 August 2022 Thursday 17:31
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The Borràs case marks the return to Parliament's activity

The interim period that the Parliament is experiencing as a result of the suspension of the rights and duties of its president, Laura Borràs, after the judicial process issued by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), will be the first issue to be dealt with in the new political course , which effectively begins next week.

Far from the institutional normality that would require a return to the ring, the first matter to be dealt with by the Parliamentary Board, the governing body of the Chamber, will be related to the situation of the president of Junts, who after being suspended and refusing to resign, Through his parliamentary group, he presented a request for reconsideration of his suspension.

It was last August 16, the first business day of the new political course after the 15-day break due to vacations, when the postconvergents presented this request, showing their willingness to make the matter a casus belli.

The first vice-president acting as president of the Parliament, Alba Vergés (ERC), called yesterday, for next Thursday September 1 at 9:30 a.m., the meeting of the Bureau to discuss the reconsideration of the suspension of Borràs. It will be the first meeting of the governing body of the Catalan Chamber chaired by ERC this term, after which a meeting of speakers will be convened.

Junts alleges that the suspension of the president has violated fundamental rights such as the presumption of innocence, the right to political participation and the principle of legal certainty. But the party has also marked a clear distance with the attitude of its leader in the act of homage to the victims of the attack of 17-A of 2017 in Barcelona and Cambrils, which this year commemorated its fifth anniversary.

Controversy has enveloped Borràs again, this time due to his collusion with the group of pro-independence protesters who interrupted the minute of silence in memory of the victims, something that unnerved many party leaders. So this discomfort will surely be present at the meeting of the executive committee on August 29, which promises to be, once again, intense.

For now, the postconvergents plan to exhaust all administrative channels to reverse the situation of the party president before redirecting the focus towards Europe.

In any case, the discomfort in Junts is compounded by the clarity with which the president of the Generalitat has expressed himself during the summer break. Pere Aragonès urged his partner in the Government to appoint a replacement for Borràs to preserve the institution.

In his opinion, a prolonged interim in Parliament "is not good", so that "the best way" to avoid it is "the election of a new presidency". Aragonès asked Junts to name a substitute and that, in the event that Borràs is acquitted, she "can restore her to him."

The president's request was accepted by the leader of the opposition, Salvador Illa, who took the opportunity to offer his support to ERC to remove Borràs in a possible vote in the plenary session of Parliament.