The meetings are multiplying in the Catalan Parliament with less than 48 hours to go before the session to constitute the new chamber. It's still unknown who will be the body's speaker or the final distribution of the seven roles on the Board.
In fact, this morning, ERC's spokesperson, Sergi Sabrià, didn't even want to confirm that his party would hold the speakership. The broad agreement sealed last week by the acting president, Carles Puigdemont, and ERC's secretary general, Marta Rovira, for the constitution of the new chamber and the investiture of the president is based on a Board with a pro-independence majority including two members from ERC (one of them the speaker), two from Puigdemont's JuntsXCat and, from the pro-union side, two from Ciutadans and one from PSC.
Carme Forcadell declining to be speaker again, however, has forced ERC to find a replacement. In recent days, the names of Ernest Maragall and Raül Romeva, both former ministers, and Antoni Castellà, leader of Demòcrates, have been suggested for the role. As to the last, sources from his party, which stood with ERC in the December election, have denied that he has received an offer. However, they are not limited to those proposals, and new names are emerging, including deputies Roger Torrent and Alba Vergés, who are bearing some of the weight for the negotiations with the other. Another name to come up has been Sabrià's own.
JuntsXCat says they are only waiting to find out ERC's decision whilst ERC themselves say they want to know how JuntsXCat plans to move forward with investing Puigdemont to then be able to decide on their proposal.
The pro-independence majority will be a key element for Puigdemont's investiture, a situation made very complicated by his exile in Brussels. In fact, this afternoon, the chamber's lawyers were also considering the different reports the speaker has requested on the topic.
Similarly unconfirmed by JuntsXCat is whether the current first deputy speaker, Lluís Guinó, will be on the new Board. Party leaders are waiting for a response from the deputy who, like Carme Forcadell, is under investigation by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the visible leaders of Puigdemont's candidate list, headed by Elsa Artadi, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull, have this afternoon held talks with CUP deputies Maria Sirvent and Natàlia Sànchez to discuss the possibility of giving them one of their two positions on the Board.
Whilst JuntsXCat was meeting with CUP in their offices, ERC deputies Torrent and Vergés were talking with Catalunya En Comú's Xavier Domènech. In fact, there has also been speculation that it might be a member of his party, Joan Josep Nuet or Domènech himself, who will become speaker.