The parliamentary group of the PSC-United has decided to take the initiative and present a reform of the law -amended in 2003- that since 1988 protects the compensations and lifetime pensions that can be collected by the presidents of the Parliament, and even their spouses widowed The proposal derives from the will of the socialists to "dignify" the institution, deteriorated by an interim situation since the suspension of Laura Borràs.
According to La Vanguardia, Salvador Illa's party is planning to register a bill today to repeal the rule that was once signed by President Jordi Pujol so that the presidents of the Catalan Chamber, once they left office, could "attend to their political needs with the dignity and decorum that correspond to the functions performed".
This rule allows living ex-presidents to receive - at the expense of the budgets of the Generalitat de Catalunya - after ceasing to be in office and for four years, 80% of their salary - currently exceeding 150,000 euros gross per year. In addition, if the president in question "has held office for at least two years", when he reaches 65 he is entitled to a monthly lifetime pension of 60% of his salary. Even after death, their living spouses are also entitled to a lifetime pension corresponding to 50% of the then-president's salary.
This provision was modified in 2003 in the statute of the former presidents of the Generalitat and was partially applied to the presidents of the Chamber, and it was established that the assignment would be maintained for half the time they had been in office or as minimum during one legislature, that is to say, four years after his termination. Pension rights remained on the same terms.
Now the PSC wants to repeal this law regardless of the judicial future of Laura Borràs, who is in doubt as to whether or not she will have access to a lifetime pension when she retires due to a matter of timing. Yesterday the leader of Junts completed two years as president of the Parliament, with the position suspended.
The socialists are aware that their proposal will not end the interim presidency, an unprecedented circumstance not provided for in the regulations that has plunged the institution into a serious crisis, but "we want to repeal the privileges", they allege. "It is not an ad hoc measure or against anyone", but "it is necessary to take steps in this direction and we feel the responsibility, as the first group of the Chamber, to take the initiative", they justify.
The leader of Junts is not the only one who would be affected by the repeal of the rule. Five living presidents of Parliament have had or are entitled to these benefits: Joan Rigol (held office between 1999 and 2003), Ernest Benach (2003-2010), Núria de Gispert (2010-2015), Carme Forcadell (2015) -2017) and Roger Torrent (2018-2021). Three of them, Benach, Forcadell and Torrent, are members of the Left.
To solve this situation, the socialists present, in their proposed law, a downward solution, a transitional provision that significantly reduces allocations and limits them exclusively to six months.
In the case of the salary supplement after leaving the presidency, the socialists propose to reduce it from 80% to 20% and for a period of six months, as long as this limit has not already been exceeded. In practice, all the presidents of the Parliament have already been able to receive this benefit during the 24 months following their position. All except Borràs. Yesterday, March 12, the Minister of Business completed two years since he ceased to be the head of the Catalan Chamber, but the benefits as a former president are incompatible with other public income, so he was forced to choose between the salary of a director and that of former president of the Chamber.
In the case of the retirement pension, the socialists also propose to lower the allocation to 10% of the salary, and the period during which it will be received, to six months, from the entry into force of the proposal. This provision would affect all retired former presidents, who would see their current pension significantly reduced. Especially in the case of Torrent, the only one who has not reached retirement age.
Finally, the living spouses of a former President of the Parliament would also see their lifetime pension reduced to 10% and later limited to six months.
In order to bring this reform to fruition, the Socialists assure that they have maintained some "informal" parliamentary contacts, but they hope to have a sufficient majority in favor given the context in which the Catalan Chamber finds itself, with other cases of golden retirements that fall upon the their workers
"When the current law was approved, there were people who carried out important political tasks in Catalonia, trajectories that prevented them from contributing and, therefore, facing the final stage of their lives with the necessary dignity; but this is no longer the case", they allege to the PSC. The socialists believe that "now it is enough with the forecasts that any deputy has" and that "there must not be a regime of exceptionality".
The socialist proposal emphasizes that "the social perception" of these provisions for public positions "has changed" and that they are now perceived as "unjustifiable privileges" because they have been granted for many years to people who have been in the job for a relatively short time charge
