On the first day back at work for the Catalan Parliament, the pro-independence party Junts has registered a request with the chamber procedural body, the Bureau, to reconsider the suspension of Laura Borràs as speaker of the institution, as voted by a majority at the end of July. After two weeks of holiday, on this August 16th, Parliament has returned to its daIly routine, with the great unknown of who will replace the Junts party leader at the head of the institution, since she has repeatedly said that she won't resign and her party has informed its coalition partner ERC, which assumes the functions of the speaker as holder of the deputy speaker position, that they will not replace her.
The speaker was suspended through the application of parliamentary rules, after she was sent to trial over the alleged irregular splitting of contracts when she presided over public literary body the Institute of Catalan Letters (ILC). With respect to the decision to suspend Borràs, Junts asserts that the measure violates her fundamental rights, including the presumption of innocence, the right to political participation and the principle of legal certainty. With this request, the road begins to exhaust all administrative avenues before Junts can open a judicial appeal at European level regarding the situation of the speaker of the house.
Complex situation over the speakership
During the holiday period, the great unknown has been who will preside over the Catalan Parliament from now on and what the status of Borràs will be. Alba Vergés (ERC), who until the suspension was deputy speaker, has assumed the acting leadership of the house while asking Junts to choose another name from its ranks. However, from the party over which Laura Borràs also presides, they completely rule out this option. Junts MP Jaume Alonso Cuevillas said at the beginning of August that replacing Borràs would mean "covering over and whitewashing a situation that is absolutely exceptional. ERC decided to suspend the speaker because it wanted to, they were the ones that had the key in the voting and are also the current partner of Junts ". The criticisms have been constant during these last weeks, but, for the time being, it has not had any repercussions on the Catalan coalition, beyond the criticism by Junts ministers due to the situation of their party president.
Meanwhile, in this context, the Catalan Socialists (PSC) have also added grist to the mill through their spokesperson, Alicia Romero. Romero called Borràs's attitude "deplorable": "If she loves the institution so much, the first thing she should do is preserve it and not attack it by using such harsh words against her colleagues", said Romero after Borràs had condemned the members of the Bureau who voted in favor of her suspension. Directly censuring the Bureau members from the PSC, ERC and the CUP, as Borràs did, reflects, according to Romero, a "mean-spirited attitude".