Santiago Jose Sanchez |
Barcelona (EFE) internal in JxCat and the rest of the Catalan political board.
The Prosecutor’s Office asks Borràs for six years in prison and 21 years of disqualification after allegedly splitting contracts to award them to Isaías H., who negotiates a sentence reduction that frees him from going to jail in exchange for ratting on Borràs.
These are the political keys of the case that affects the suspended president of Parliament.
Judicial strategy based on defending their innocence
Borràs considers that he is the victim of “political persecution”, frames the case in a “general cause against independence” and believes that it is the result of “lawfare”, or judicial dirty war.
Her defense – headed by Gonzalo Boye, lawyer for former president Carles Puigdemont – will try to discredit the emails that accuse her. For this they have hired the expert Luis Enrique Hellín, a former Fuerza Nueva militant and convicted of the murder of student Yolanda González in 1980.
A year of political attrition
Despite the electoral pull that Borràs demonstrated in the February 2021 elections, his figure has suffered notable wear and tear in the last year, in which he has been involved in controversies in Parliament and within JxCat.
The first of these dates back to February 2022, when the then CUP deputy in Parliament Pau Juvillà was disqualified and Borràs did not keep his seat, although the president blamed the officials for it, which led to the umpteenth crisis. between independent parties.
Borràs was once again in the spotlight as a result of the case that affected one of his closest collaborators, the deputy Francesc de Dalmases, who scolded a journalist from the TV3 “FAQS” program and who resigned as vice president of the party after a report emerged internal in which the facts were corroborated.
Another key episode of this wear was her suspension as president of the Parliament after the opening of the oral trial last July, a decision supported by the PSC, ERC and the CUP.
Who will be the next JxCat candidate for the Generalitat?
The result of the judicial process will directly condition JxCat’s electoral offer in the next Catalan elections: an acquittal would open the door for Borràs to repeat as presidential candidate, while a disqualification would lead JxCat to start the debate on its next candidate.
One of the names that sounds internally is that of the former Minister Jaume Giró, who opposed the departure of the Government and who could run as a candidate for the pragmatic sector of Junts, while the former Minister Victòria Alsina is also seen favorably among the leaders with past in the old Convergència.
However, another judicial decision could quickly settle the debate on the presidential candidate of JxCat: a European resolution favorable to Carles Puigdemont that would facilitate his return.
The mystery of the presidency of Parliament
After her suspension at the head of Parliament, the Catalan chamber is in an interim situation, with the functions of the president assumed for now by the republican Alba Vergés.
The definitive disqualification of Borràs or his acquittal would lead to the end of this interim period, either with his “restitution” as president – that is his wish – or by electing a new president, a position for which JxCat could propose Anna Erra or Marta Madrenas. , although whoever the candidate is – from Junts or from another group – must obtain sufficient parliamentary support.
Internal balances in JxCat
At the II JxCat Congress last summer, Borràs agreed with Jordi Turull on a consensus list, which brought together the different sensibilities of the party and which contemplated a 50% leadership, to guarantee internal balance.
But in the last internal elections of JxCat, the sector identified with Turull, with a past in Convergència, organized and took over the local leaderships and the leadership of ideological currents, stripping those related to Borràs of those positions.
A condemnation of Borràs would once again stir the debate in the ranks of Junts and would give wings to the most pragmatic sector to try to seize full power in the party.
The JxCat statutes provide that, in the event of a final conviction, it will be the guarantees commission that decides the suspension of a militant in cases of ‘lawfare’, one of the arguments used by Borràs in his defense. It is the same commission that, in October, prepared the report that ended with the resignation of Dalmases as vice president of Junts.
