The Catalan government is applying pressure once again for Parliament to take action over the status of the chamber's speaker. Laura Borràs, president of Junts, was suspended from the role of speaker last July when she was sent to trial over the Institute of Catalan Letters contracts case, but asserting her innocence, has not resigned. Now, as the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, has been insisting since the suspended speaker was found guilty last week, the executive considers that it is necessary to "put an end" to the "provisional situation" in an "immediate and urgent" manner. "Parliament has been in an interim capacity for too many months, this weakens the institution and does not help anyone", stated the government's spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja. Thus, the executive is passing the ball to the parliamentary parties to find a "solution", but confirms that what is required is a "speaker with full rights, with majority support and able to carry out all their functions".
On Monday, the Catalan Socialists proposed a reform of the regulations of the Catalan chamber in order to speed up the dismissal of Laura Borràs as leader of the chamber, but the government has avoided giving any assessment on whether this should be the way. Patrícia Plaja stated that it was a question that must be decided by the parliamentary parties: "It is up to the parties to find the most agile solution". Be that as it may, the executive believes that, in this scenario, with Borràs having been convicted for the crimes of abuse of authority and document falsification, there are now new grounds compared to two weeks ago and it is in this framework in which they maintain that "urgent" action is needed to end the provisional status of the chamber.
Collision with Spanish government over highway
Last Friday, March 31st, was the deadline that had been set for the signing of the agreement relating to the Ronda del Vallès highway, or B-40, a deal that the ERC-led government had reached with the PSC as part of the Catalan budget agreement. In this regard, Patrícia Plaja highlighted the discrepancies that continue with the Spanish government on the B-40: "The budget agreement says just that, to reach an agreement; but agreeing does not mean that you sign what is put in front of you". According to the Catalan executive, "the Spanish transport ministry has not complied with the text" of the agreement, and the Generalitat asserts that it will not allow the infrastructure to be financed with money already "owed to Catalonia": "The work must be financed by the Spanish government, with a new budgetary allowance". At the same time, the Catalan executive believes that "with this attitude it will be difficult to reach an agreement at the moment" and criticizes that "the Spanish government and the PSC are bogging down the agreement so that it seems that the Generalitat does not want to comply with it". "If they intend to cheat and change the rules of the game, it will be complicated", said Plaja, but she believes that if "the spirit" of the pact was maintained, "the agreement could be signed this very afternoon".
Also in today's press conference, Patrícia Plaja advanced that "in the coming days" it is expected that there will be progress in the Clarity Agreement proposed by the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès. "He will be the one to give the details when appropriate", the spokesperson emphasized. In this regard, there is a group of experts led by the political scientist Marc Sanjaume working on a proposal on the matter.