Barcelona (EFE) the independence cause “does not deserve to be contaminated by corruption.”
In an interview with EFE, Aragonès wanted to be “very clear” regarding the Borràs case, by assuring that the sentence affecting the president of JxCat “is not a case of political repression” against the independence movement, but “a sentence with some facts proven and related to corrupt practices”.
“She has every right to file appeals and continue to defend her innocence,” the president pointed out, “but it is not a case comparable to cases related to the referendum on October 1 or political repression.”
The presidency of the Parliament, the second authority in Catalonia, has been in an interim situation since July 2022, when the Board of the chamber -with the votes of PSC, ERC and CUP, against one against JxCat- approved suspending Borràs as deputy and as president of the institution, after the opening of the oral trial; since then, Alba Vergés (ERC) has held that acting position.
After being sentenced last week by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia to four and a half years in prison for awarding contracts by hand at the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes, Borràs said that she had no intention of leaving and demanded her reinstatement as head of the camera, alleging “political persecution”.
Aragonés urges Junts to move
But the president of the Generalitat has censured Borràs’s position: “The interim Parliament cannot be used as one more piece of the self-defense strategy. Legitimate, but ultimately personal. The Parliament must have a presidency with full functions and not a vacant presidency ”, he has warned.
For this, Aragonès considers that it is necessary to “proceed with the election of a new Parliament presidency”, under two premises: that it “reflects” the pro-independence majority in the chamber and that JxCat takes the “first step”, proposing a replacement proposal to the rest of the groups, so that they study it and decide.
What if JxCat didn’t take that step forward and castled in keeping Borràs? “We will not advance events,” the Catalan president and ERC national coordinator responded. There is still a long way to go and I fully trust that everyone will make the best possible decision to preserve the country’s institutions.”
“Do not contaminate” the independence movement
The Republican leader has suggested that JxCat “should think, and think a lot” about “why in a case linked to corruption they now try to look the other way, putting the cause of independence at stake.”
“The cause of independence does not deserve to be contaminated by cases of corruption. We are obliged to be demanding and extremely exemplary. There are some proven facts that are clear and have nothing to do with political repression. This is the reflection that JxCat should carry out ”, he has advised.
On the other hand, he did not want to position himself on whether Borràs should also leave the leadership of JxCat, after this week the ERC spokesperson, Marta Vilalta, reproached that formation for not having “cleaned up” the corruption within it and that, despite to “change the acronyms, do not change the forms” regarding Convergència.
Aragonès has said “to be nobody” to give an opinion on who should lead another party, nor to interfere in its “internal dynamics”, but to demand that the institutions be “at full capacity” and recover their “normality”.
PSD “unilateral” proposal
Finally, he referred critically to the proposal to reform the Parliament’s regulations presented by PSC-Units, which would allow the plenary session, by absolute majority, to remove members of the Bureau from office.
“We found out about this proposal through the media. I think that in an aspect as relevant to our institutions as are the operating rules, as is the case with the regulation, it would have been nice if the PSC had notified us beforehand and shared the content. But they have made a unilateral proposal ”, he has reproached.