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The speaker of parliament, Laura Borràs, interrupted this morning's session of parliamentary questions to the Catalan government following an insult made by one of the deputies of the far-right party Vox, Antonio Gallego, to the president, Pere Aragonès. The tension had already been raised during the speech of the Vox parliamentary leader, Ignacio Garriga, who called for the president's attention because he had not turned round to the back of the chamber to allow Garriga to speak to his face. "I would appreciate it if you could turn around and show some politeness this time around," he said. Aragonés did not turn around, and Garriga accused him of "once again" showing "his lack of education and his indecency". However, what exasperated the Vox deputies was when Aragonés compared them to the protagonists of Nazism and fascism.

In his question, Garriga denounced that the pro-independence groups and the Catalan Socialists  (PSC) dominated institutional positions, and he was critical of Catalonia's public television network, which "squanders" tens of millions of euros and that "Puigdemont's biographer" - in reference to the journalist Xevi Xirgu - may soon control the public media, being currently candidate for the Catalan audiovisual council's presidency. Taking the floor, Aragonès began his response by ironically thanking Garriga for not having surrounded himself with liquor bottles like those just seen in his Vox colleague's Hermann Tertsch's speech to a European parliamentary committee. He went on to say that attacks on democratic institutions have been a constant throughout the history of the far right, and recalled that "Italian fascism, National Socialism in Germany and fascism in Spain in the 1930s all did it."

"Correct yourself if you have the courage"

This reference provoked irritation in the seats of the far right group and MPs from other parties seated nearby heard Gallego use the expression hijo de puta - "son of a bitch", which they denounced to the speaker. Borràs interrupted the session to denounce the "absolutely intolerable insults" directed at Aragonès, and offered the opportunity for the parliamentarian, whom she did not name, to apologize.

 

Garriga asked for the floor to demand that Aragonès also be required to maintain correct behaviour, but Borràs did not allow the Vox MP to continue. She repeated that she had only asked the person who had insulted Aragonès to apologize "if he had the courage to do so".

At this point, the deputy Gallego stood up and did apologize for the insult. "But it must be understood, and you are the first who should do so, that it is not normal for the president to accuse us of Nazism at every question session," he warned, before Borràs interrupted him again to warn him that insults are unacceptable and that the rules of the house authorize the speaker to expel him from the chamber for uttering an insult of this nature. "Refrain from commenting on an insult that is unacceptable - and put on your mask," she asked, warning him that he couldn't justify an insult. The debate ended with Borràs cutting off Gallego with a: "You do not have the word".