A new leadership has been chosen, and structural changes are now to follow. The organizational report which Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) will present at the second part of its part congress in July is to revise the role of the party's presidency, a role to which it decided on Saturday to appoint Laura Borràs in replacement of Carles Puigdemont, altering a position which until now did not have executive functions so that it includes the competence to “lead the party, jointly” with the general secretary, the new role of Jordi Turull, also appointed on Saturday. The report also includes the creation of ex officio members of the executive, who will attend meetings with speaking rights but no vote, including members of the governing council of the Council for the Republic, who are affiliated with the party, thus including Carles Puigdemont, who is president of the exile body.
Junts is to hold the second part of its congress on 15th and 16th July in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, and on these dates the political, sectoral and organizational reports will have to be approved. The last of these, which has been coordinated by Catalan minister Violant Cervera, with Quim Jubert as secretary and members David Torrents, Aurora Madaula, Gemma Geis and Jaume Alonso Cuevillas, has had to adapt the party structure to the distribution of roles agreed by Borràs and Turull when they put together their joint candidacy to lead the party that was approved on Saturday.
With the role of party president not having included executive functions during the Puigdemont stage, the organizational report reserves for Borràs the function of leading the party jointly with the general secretary as well as holding responsibility for “supervising” the party's performance in all areas. In addition, the secretary will have to reach agreement with the president on many of the functions that are currently part of its competency, including the assignment of responsibilities to members of the executive and the appointment of a deputy secretary general with responsibility for municipal policy as well as "supporting the secretary general in his duties."
Ex officio members
Meanwhile, the organizational report classifies as ex officio members with speaking rights but without a vote on the executive all the members of the Catalan government, the members of the governing council of the Council for the Republic who are affiliated to the party, the party territorial leaders for the eight Catalan vegueria units, the president of its Barcelona federation and the presidency of the party's national council.
Up till now, the party bylaws of Junts provided that all such officials could attend meetings of the executive, but they had to be invited by the general secretary, in order to ensure the best political coordination. They were not ex officio members, as they will be from now on, if this proposal is approved. This change permanently reserves a place for Carles Puigdemont in the meetings of the executive, which does not mean that he has to occupy it. In fact, during his time as party president, he chose to keep his distance from the day-to-day and did not usually attend meetings. The change will also allow the vice president of the exile body, Toni Comín, and the former minister Lluís Puig to attend Junts executive meetings.
It also opens the door to the executive to the Catalan vice president, Jordi Puigneró, who had been left out of the leadership, but not to the president of the Junts parliamentary caucus, Albert Batet, who has been removed from the new executive. However, the current rules do provide that the party president and general secretary may invite others to attend meetings, including the presidents of provincial councils and the leaders of parliamentary groups.