Despite the fact that the ruling is not yet final, the suspended president can be definitively removed from the Chamber
Not because it is foreseeable, it will be more manageable. For weeks a real political storm had been looming over the conviction of Laura Borràs, but there was some caution, awaiting the sentence. Now, once the ruling is known, the hot potato has reached Parliament. He TSJC has condemned the president of together to 4 and a half years in prison and 9 years of disqualification. He considers the prevarication and documentary falsification in the division of several contracts proven when he directed the Institution of Catalan Letters (ILC). However, in the sentence, the court is in favor of granting him a pardon that reduces the sentence imposed on him to two years, in order to avoid going to jail.
The fronts that open from now on are multiple. The first will be fought in the Catalan Chamber, but there will also be noise in his own party: Junts per Catalunya.How is the sentence applied?
Borràs has been sentenced by the TSJC, so the sentence is not yet final. However, it is more than likely that it will be terminated immediately, as happened with the former president. Quim Torra or the ‘cupaire’ Pau Juvilla. The court considers prevarication as proven, a crime against public administrationso it would operate article 6.2 of the LOREG. Thus, the Parliament could dismiss her automatically, considering that there is a situation of “supervening incompatibility”. Predictably it will not do it ex officio, but the Central Electoral Board (JEC) could do it. Until now, it has always done so at the request of a political party, but legal sources specialized in parliamentary dynamics do not rule out that it could do so ex officio. And if not, the opposition will request it.
In the case of Torra, Junts strongly criticized the then president, Roger Torrent, for complying with the JEC order. However, Borràs ended up taking the same path when the electoral referee snatched the seat of the CUP deputy, despite much gesticulation. In this case, very predictably, the order will be complied with through administrative channels, as happened with Juvillà, who stopped collecting his salary and the credentials of the next on the list were processed. In addition, since it is a case linked to corruption, no one outside of Junts supports Borràs continuing in the Chamber. In fact, she was already suspended from her duties in July, when an oral trial was opened against her.
Who will occupy the presidency of Parliament now?
When ERC, PSC and the CUP decided to apply to Borràs the article 25.4 of the regulation, which provides for the suspension of the deputies to whom an oral trial is opened for crimes related to corruption, no one took their place. Neither in the Chamber, nor at the Table. Borràs refused to resign, pending the ruling, and left the Chamber in an interim situation and forcing the vice president Alba Verges, from ERC, to assume his functions provisionally. The Republicans, upset from the outset with Junts for not resolving this situation, have tried in recent weeks to reactivate negotiations with their former partners in the Government. So far, without much success.
Junts agreed to the position in return for supporting the investiture of the ‘president’ Pere Aragones, an agreement that was broken with the departure of the post-convergents from the Government. However, Esquerra wants to take advantage of the Borràs situation to mend the wounds and recover the pro-independence majority. Officially, Junts has not shown itself to be very supportive of the work, alleging the presumption of innocence for the suspended president. But the more moderate sectors have sounded the names of Anna Erra or Marta Madrenas as possible substitutes, in the face of the most drunken ones who are considering a boycott. The second secretary of the Board did it, Aurora Madaula, at the middle of March. He said resigning as a political protest was an “option.” Some statements that generated discomfort within a part of the party, which they branded as “totally personal” considerations. Those close to Jordi Turull do not want to leave the second position with the highest political rank in Catalonia vacant.
The presidency of the Parliament is chosen by depositing the name of the candidate in a ballot box. In the first vote, an absolute majority is required, but if no candidate obtains it, the two names with the most votes go to the second round. If Junts renounces to appear, it could be disputed between the two parties with the most deputies, PSC and ERC -which are tied at 33 seats-. The PSC has not ruled out running for office.
Could Borràs del Parlament collect?
According to the current law, when the presidents of the Parliament are dismissed they can receive a benefit from the 80% of your salary –of 150,000 euros– for a minimum of four years. PSC, the Comuns and Cs have put on the table in recent weeks bills to modify this rule and leave Borràs without benefits, but there is still no date to debate or approve it. It is expected that the Board of Spokespersons will decide on April 11. For now, however, Borràs will be able to collect it.
Also, waiting for these changes. Former presidents also have the right to collect a lifetime pension of 60% of salary once they retire. In this case, however, they can only receive it if they have served as president for a minimum of two years. Laura Borràs fulfilled them on March 12, but having been suspended more than half a year before, there are legal doubts about whether she could qualify for this life pension. What he could benefit from is the termination benefit to which all deputies are entitled, but it has to be validated by the Parliamentary Board and it cannot be collected if there is other income – and currently it is paid by the party.
And in Junts, can you continue as president?
Borràs has in the statutes of the post-convergent formation a safeguard to be able to continue as president even if she is convicted. In the congress of the past, where she was chosen, she managed to have it included that before a lawfare case it is the guarantee commission that assesses whether or not it can continue. Both Borràs and his followers consider that it is about this assumption. Also the general secretary, Jordi Turull, has publicly subscribed that there is a “political persecution”. But within the formation, and above all out of the spotlight, the position is not unanimous at all. In fact, some critical voices already called for her resignation in July before being suspended by Parliament.
Be that as it may, once sentenced, the hot potato is the guarantee commission, which is precisely chaired by the lawyer Magda Oranichwith whom Borràs had a run-in as a result of the management of the controversy of the deputy Francesc de Dalmases for having intimidated a journalist from the FAQs. Oranich publicly revealed that he had suffered “unacceptable pressure” from Borras to try to influence the conclusions of the internal investigation that was opened for this case and for which Dalmases finally was removed of the vice presidency of Junts.