Speaker of the Catalan parliament Laura Borràs and former Catalan minister and released political prisoner Jordi Turull have this Tuesday presented their joint pre-candidacy for the new executive of the Together for Catalonia (Junts) party, in which they will assume the functions, respectively, of president and general secretary, with the commitment to "share the executive responsibilities". The proposal for the new management is to maintain four vice-presidencies, with the incorporation of Francesc Dalmases and Aurora Madaula, close to Borràs, and the re-election in the role of Josep Rius and Anna Erra. Badalona councilor David Torrents will take on the duties of head of organization, in an executive in which the current Catalan minister of economy, Jaume Giró, stands out among the additions. Borràs avoided specifying whether the new party leadership will lead to changes in the leadership of the party caucus in the Catalan Parliament or the Congress of Deputies.
Although the party's statutes reserve a non-executive role for the presidency, Borràs and Turull have emphasized that they will share day-to-day executive responsibilities. "When it comes to setting up bodies or making decisions, we will work by agreement. I am sure we will never just apply the statutes" on who has power in different cases," said Turull, who assured that they will share almost 95% of the functions. "We have a lot of work to do, the members will notice this trust with a much more intense and executive activity of the presidency," he assured.
In addition to the four vice-presidents, the rest of the party executive, as reported in advance by ElNacional.cat, comprises David Torrents as secretary of organization, and Teresa Pallarès as secretary of finance, along with 20 other names. The deputy Jaume Alonso Cuevillas, very close to Borràs, and deputy Joan Canadell, in addition to minister Jaume Giró, deputy Cristina Casol, Terrassa leader Montserrat Caupena, Moià municipal councillor Montserrat Girbau, former Catalan minister Miquel Samper, and deputies Salvador Vergès and Ester Vallès.
Those currently in the party direction who will continue are the president of the Port of Barcelona, Damià Calvet; current government ministers Violant Cervera and Gemma Geis; deputies Jordi Fàbrega, Glòria Freixa and Mònica Sales; mayor of Girona, Marta Madrenas; spokesperson for the party in Congress, Miriam Nogueras; current organizational secretary David Saldoni; director of Carles Puigdemont's MEP office, Aleix Sarri; and the delegate of the Generalitat government in Barcelona, Toni Morral.
Among the names that will not continue in the executive is that of the president of the Junts parliamentary group, Albert Batet, who in Parliament has had differences with Borràs, starting when the speaker of parliament tried to install Francesc de Dalmases as spokesperson for the group, with Mònica Sales finally being appointed to this responsibility. Nor will some of the names closest to the outgoing secretary general, Jordi Sànchez, such as Joaquim Jubert and Marcel Padrós, continue.
Turull began the press conference by expressing his satisfaction after the agreement with Borràs, with whom he will rejoin the political front line after spending more than three years in prison for participating in the independence process. He insisted that the aim was to "finish the job" after Catalan voters chose independence and that Junts is and will continue to be the party of president Puigdemont. "We are the parents of 1st October and the children of 1st October," he said.
Borràs also asserted that this is a very good agreement, which "makes the party congress a momentous occasion to consolidate Junts". "With this agreement, the winner is Junts because it shows the image of the party we are, and allows us to consolidate the party we want to be. In this case, by coming together, we multiply, because it adds up to more for the country and for independence," he said, emphasising the importance of guaranteeing unity.
The candidacy proposal for the new executive received the applause of Carles Puigdemont, still president of the party but who stated he won't run again. On Twitter, the MEP thanked Borràs and Turull for the agreement which he defined as a "big step" that opens a new stage.