Coinciding with the changing of the guard in many political spaces after the municipal elections, the Parliament of Catalonia has also brought down a curtain of its own: suspended speaker Laura Borràs, convicted in March over the Institute of Catalan Letters contractual irregularities case, was stripped of her seat as an MP on Thursday evening. The move by the parliamentary Bureau sets in motion the formal process to decide on a replacement speaker for the Catalan chamber, to be voted on at a special session of Parliament called for Friday 9th June. The question now is, will the 2021 pro-independence investiture agreement, under which Together for Catalonia (Junts) took charge of the speakership of the house, while the Republican Left (ERC) took the reins of the government, still apply, when so much water has gone under the political bridge? ERC asserts that the ball is still in the Junts court. But on Thursday, En Comú Podem was quick to put up what it described as a "consensus" candidate for the role, the alternative left group's number two, Joan Carles Gallego; while the Catalan Socialists (PSC) have now proposed their own candidate, Assumpta Escarp, current second deputy speaker of Parliament.
No going back for the Bureau
The attempt by the Catalan Parliament to stand by the rights of Laura Borràs as an MP lasted as long as it took the Spanish Supreme Court to reject further interim appeals against the ruling of the Central Electoral Commission (JEC) that the Junts leader was no longer eligible to hold office after being sentenced to jail and a ban on holding office for fraud-related offences, despite the fact that her substantive appeal is still to be heard. Thus, the acting deputy speaker, Alba Vergés, called an extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary Bureau, after receiving notification from the Spanish Supreme Court. With the court's denial of an injunction on the matter, the Bureau voted by a majority to withdraw Borràs's seat, thus bringing to an end the interim situation of the institution. The parliament's Board of Spokespersons met on Thursday, and agreed to call a special plenary session next Friday, June 9th, at noon, to vote on a replacement speaker for the rest of the Catalan legislature.
Parliamentary sources maintain that, after receiving the interlocutory order from the Supreme Court, there was no going back. It was the only body that could suspend the execution of the JEC's decision and it did not do so. Thus, with the vote against by the secretary Aurora Madaula (Junts), the Bureau "took note" that Laura Borràs had lost her status as a deputy in Catalan Parliament as of Thursday, June 1st, and notified her by email.
PSC proposes Escarp, but ERC looks to Junts
The spokesperson of the PSC in Parliament, Alicia Romero, confirmed this Friday that her parliamentary group will present the candidacy of Assumpta Escarp, until now the second deputy head of the Bureau, for the speaker's role. "There is no doubt that a profile like that of Assumpta Escarp is what the Parliament needs to recover the path of institutional normality and dignity", said the parliamentary group in a statement. Hours earlier, Romero had stated in an interview with RTVE that the Socialists had the possibility of holding the role as the largest party in Parliament: "We will play hard on this", she warned.
For its part, ERC maintains that it is up to Junts to propose a new "pro-independence" speaker for Parliament, after the banning from office and withdrawal of the seat of Laura Borràs. Junts has held the speakership of Parliament until now due to its 2021 governance agreement with ERC, although the governing coalition broke up in autumn last year, with the Republicans governing alone since then in an executive which can only count on the 33 ERC votes in Parliament, and Junts going over to the opposition.
On the other hand, the En Comú Podem spokesperson in Parliament, David Cid, called for the speaker's role not to be "gifted" to Junts, stressing the progressive majority in the chamber - in which he includes the Socialists as well as ERC, the CUP and his own party - and announcing the Comuns deputy Joan Carles Gallego as a candidate to hold the position. In a press conference, Cid, who regretted and blamed the pro-independence groups for Parliament's "interim" status for months due to the Borràs situation, remarked that the leadership of the Catalan chamber cannot be assigned to Junts "by divine design and whatever happens". "It makes no sense for a Parliament that has a loose progressive majority to have a Junts presidency," he said, adding that his group is open to negotiating with the PSC, ERC and the CUP for a consensus progressive candidate.