She is a woman without limits. This phrase can combine favorable and critical opinions about Laura Borras in its political space, Together for Catalonia. The same attitude, that of having no limits, can be interpreted positively, as a value of unfettered leadership, of the unwavering will to lead Catalonia to independence, of not fearing any challenge; but it also has a negative reading, the one made by her critics: she is a woman unable to adapt to legal frameworks, to exercise prudence, to smooth her ego or to understand that politics is not just image or decisions populists.
Borràs’s career has been explosive. In 2017 he was not in politics. And in just five years he has directed the ‘Department of Culturehas been a candidate in the general elections and shortly afterwards a candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat after comfortably winning a primaries against the former convergent minister Damia Calvet. Now he has also reached the presidency of a party, Junts, in which he did not have a specific position of weight. He thus replaces the ‘expresident’ Carles Puigdemont but it does so with much more internal power, as much as that of the secretary general, another post-convergent, Jordi Turull, after an intense internal pulse.
A great personal role
Apart from the court case in the making, Borràs has starred in numerous episodes in a personal key. Very personal could be added. There is no pro-independence event in which he has not participated or supported, although this has brought him some controversy, such as his presence in the mobilization that cuts off Meridiana avenue in Barcelona, at a time when the ‘ministry’ of the Interior already recommended abandoning this protest.
His candidacy in the general elections was based on the pro-independence message, instead of claiming to exercise self-determination. When asked about other issues, whether it be surrogacy or the Catalan minimum wage, the answers were more vague and sometimes did not coincide with the electoral program of Junts.
His electoral result was not brilliant. ERC clearly prevailed again in the state contest. And a few months later, Borràs leaves his seat in Madrid to fight for the presidency of the Generalitat. He clearly wins Calvet in the primaries, with 70 percent of favorable votes.
A campaign without a prize
And the Catalan campaign, in which Puigdemont symbolically occupies first place on the list, is once again based on a message based on unrepentant independence. Borràs launches a campaign promise to re-proclaim independence if he wins. A ground-breaking program that the entire party does not like, where there are already sectors that are clearly critical of Borràs’ absolute prominence.
Politically, the president of the Parliament has always been on the side of Puigdemont and also of the ‘president’ Quim Torra, a man reviled by a large part of Junts and ERC. She, on the other hand, has vindicated his figure and his actions as the banner in favor of the independence prisoners, for which Torra ended up being disqualified as ‘president’.
Borràs came in third position in the elections of 14-F, and refused to participate in the Govern of the republican Pere Aragones. It was one of those that he did not rule out that Junts would be left out of this Government. She was promoted to another position, that of President of the Parliament, from where he has also starred in controversies and has seen how his promise to shield parliamentarians from “repressive” Spanish justice was watered down when the cupaire Pau Juvillà was disqualified after a sentence for having maintained yellow ties in the Lleida town hall. Borràs has also starred in controversy over his performance in the face of the “golden retirements” of some officials. And in relation to her personal court case, she also assured that she intended to change the Parliament’s regulations so as not to be separated from her. She subsequently corrected and qualified those words. The (pen) last episode has been the closed and total defense that she has made of her right-hand man in Parliament and the party, the deputy Francis of Dalmaseswho forcefully confronted a TV-3 journalist in the presence of Borràs.
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Borràs has surrounded himself with leaders not from Convergència, who have accentuated his combative profile, oblivious to any party discipline and highly individualistic. This has caused notable differences of opinion within a party in which voices critical of its way of acting have grown. In more than one meeting of the executive committee, Borràs has set a profile. And his clashes with the former secretary general jordi sanchez, were notable and periodic. She has avoided giving her arm at all times but at the second Junts congress, she saw how Jordi Turull he was more voted than her as general secretary. Internally voices are growing that are convinced that in a fight with Turull, a former convergent with long political experience, today Borràs would lose. Instead, her environment continues to position her as the undisputed leader.
The next and decisive step in her career will be to check if she has enough internal support to fight if she is disabled and ERC does not support her. In this case, Borràs could try to force the seams of the pact with the Republicans, but the majority of Junts’ ministers are for the task of continuing in the Government no matter what happens with the judicial future of the president of the Chamber and of the match.