The PSC has registered a bill on Tuesday to reform the Parliament’s regulations with which it wants to strip Laura Borrà s of the Parliament’s presidency and avoid a repetition of prolonged interim situations such as the one that the Catalan Chamber has been experiencing for eight months.
With it, the Socialists add to the path of dismissal by the Central Electoral Board (JEC) a new formula to “normalize the institution” in the face of the “anomaly” caused by the refusal of the leader to leave office and the passivity of her party, Junts per Catalunya, to take over.
If one takes into account that the possibility of withdrawing the lifelong economic allowance that would correspond to them as former president is in process, the offensive against Borràs intensifies.
In any case, the socialist initiative intends to introduce into the Parliament’s regulations a sort of motion of censure addressed to any of the members of the Board of the Chamber. Thus, Borrà s could be removed from office, who as president of the Parliament is also president of the Table, if the Catalan Chamber confirms its “loss of confidence” in her by vote, and a replacement could be chosen immediately.
With this reform, Borràs would not lose her status as a deputy, something that can only be done by the JEC or a majority of the plenary session of Parliament by specific vote, the other two existing ways for her to leave office if the leader does not resign.
But regardless of whether the JEC acts before the socialist proposal goes ahead, the PSC movement prevents an interim situation like the current one from happening again because, democratically, an absolute majority of the Chamber could promote the cessation of the President of the Parliament.
The proposed law of the PSC-Units aims to solve a “legal vacuum”, they point out, that it does solve other regional parliamentary regulations and a democratic “anomaly”. “It is surprising that we have a way to remove the president of the executive branch [of the Generalitat] from office and not for the members of the Parliamentary Board, including its president,” justify the Socialists.
But in addition, the first party of the Catalan Chamber takes the political initiative before the interim that the institution drags on, which is prolonged by the passivity of Junts in proposing an alternative candidate. In fact, this attitude causes even the Socialists to reserve the possibility of presenting their own candidate, who could be elected with the support of the minority parties of the Catalan Chamber, although “it is not our priority,” they say.
Illa wants to put Junts and ERC in front of the mirror. To the former, for “subordinating the institution to their partisan interests,” and to the Republicans for not taking the reins on a matter that “is uncomfortable for them.” In Borrà s’s party they avoid the issue by closing ranks in public with the denunciation of Borrà s’ lawfare. In private, the days are counting for the JEC to take the initiative and strip the president of the seat.
The PSC proposal could go ahead to a large extent depending on what ERC decides. The Republicans have not yet clarified a specific position, although Oriol Junqueras, in an interview with the ACN, has redirected the pressure on Junts, urging him to propose an alternative candidate for the presidency of Parliament so as not to have to weigh the reform proposed by the PSC: “If they decide to put the interests of a person before those of the country, we’ll see.”
Junqueras, in addition, has taken the opportunity to delve into Junts: “People from JxCat did not want her to occupy the presidency because she was accused of a case of alleged corruption long before 2017.”
The Government has also urged the groups to unlock the interim in Parliament. “The scenario has changed because there is already a conviction,” spokeswoman PatrÃcia Plaja explained.
The Socialists seek to approve the initiative within a month. At the moment, En Comú Podem welcomes the idea, the PP is willing to support it but they are not clear that it will allow it to “provide stability”, and Ciudadanos rejects it because it “delays the expulsion of Borrás until after the elections”.
