The initiative of the PSC to eliminate the allowances after the dismissal and the life pension of the former presidents of the Parliament has opened the debate on this type of “privileged” benefits, as recognized by the majority of groups, who still receive other public positions. With nuances, all the Catalan parties agree on the need to end the perks of those who hold the second Catalan authority, but the idea has made it inevitable to question, incidentally, other prerogatives, such as the one that comes with the position of president.
The socialist proposal is limited to the presidency of Parliament. Raised at the end of the trial of the current suspended president, Laura Borràs, it promotes the elimination of the salary supplement after leaving office -80% of the salary-, and the life pension that can be received when over 65 years of age. The PSC bill stays here with the aim of fixing the debate in the situation of “discredit” and “interim” that plagues the Catalan Chamber, but two others have been added to this initiative in the last hours, from En Comú Podem and Ciudadanos, which go further, and affect the presidency of the Generalitat, the ministers and the head of the opposition.
The commons presented yesterday a proposal for a law to modify the statute of the presidents of the Generalitat, a norm that includes the rights and prerogatives of the first Catalan authority –office, allowance and life pension–, in which they propose its “automatic” revocation when head of the Government or the president of the Parliament is convicted in a final sentence for a crime related to corruption.
The current norm allows the personal waiver of these prerogatives -Jordi Pujol did it in 2014-, as well as the revocation by the Parliament, where it must be supported by two thirds of the Chamber, but those of Jéssica Albiach warn of “the shame ” to finally have “the country’s second authority convicted” for “a clear case of alleged corruption.” The objective is, therefore, to prevent Borràs or any president of the Parliament or of the Generalitat from receiving public resources if he is convicted of “personal or third-party gain, prevarication, document forgery, influence peddling or illegal party financing.”
The commons had prepared this proposal for days, knowing in advance of the PSC initiative, and they trust that the Socialists, who have two former presidents of the Generalitat enjoying these prerogatives – Pasqual Maragall and José Montilla – will also support their approach. “It’s common sense” because “presidents used to last 20 years, but not now,” spokesman David Cid alleged yesterday.
Socialists promise to study the idea of ??commons. Her spokesperson, Alícia Romero, “agrees” with her because “no one should be able to receive benefits if convicted of corruption”, but warned that the case of the presidency of Parliament is “different” because the “discredit” of the institution occurs “now”, with a suspended president, who has an open trial and has not resigned from office, he remarked.
To the proposal of the commons, that of Ciudadanos was also added, which proposed two regulatory modifications to eliminate with a stroke of the pen all temporary assignments and life pensions of the presidents of the Government and Parliament – ??without the transitional periods of six months proposed by the PSC –, also suppress them to ex-consellers, and put an end to the extra remuneration that the head of the opposition can currently receive. In this case, the norm was promoted in 2008 by Maragall, but neither Artur Mas, nor Inés Arrimadas, Carlos Carrizosa, nor Salvador Illa requested it.
Along with Maragall and Montilla, three other presidents are entitled to this type of prerogative: Mas, Carles Puigdemont and Quim Torra, and while in the Government of Aragonès they trust everything to what the Parliament decides, in Junts they denounce the “opportunism” of these types of proposals.
