CATALONIA’S parliament has started its new term with Laura Borras being elected the legislature’s speaker.
She yesterday became the 13th person to hold the post since the parliament reconvened in 1980 winning 64 votes out of 135, ahead of the Socialist candidate Eva Granados.
Borras replaces Carme Forcadell, who is serving an 11-year jail term for allowing a referendum bill to be published in 2017. Her election makes her one of Catalonia’s most important public figures, after a deal between the pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JxCat) and the Republic Left (ERC), which also paves the way for ERC’s former vice-president Pere Aragones to become president.
In her opening address as speaker, Borras criticised Spain’s “dirty war” against the Catalan parliament, and vowed to “ensure its sovereignty is respected”. She said: “The prosecution of politics, which has been Spain’s only strategy over the past decade, is the greatest example of weakness. There will be no limits on what MPs can discuss.”
Pro-indy parties also won a majority in the bureau that runs the parliament taking five of its seven seats.
When the now deposed Quim Torra took Carles Puigdemont’s place as president, he appointed the popular Borràs as culture minister. She has become something of a rising star in the pro-indy camp in recent years and, in 2019, stepped down as a minister to run in the Spanish election. Borras improved JxCat’s presence in Congress, and became one of the most vocal indy figures there, frequently rejecting compromise with Spain and criticising ERC for pursuing dialogue with the Spanish government.
She was chosen as JxCat’s presidential candidate when a snap election was called in Catalonia.
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