Catalonia's High Court will try former Speaker and current minister for Enterprise and Employment Roger Torrent, alongside the other pro-independence members of the previous Parliamentary Bureau, for having allowed the processing of resolutions on the monarchy and self-determination in autumn 2019. In a resolution issued this Wednesday, the investigating magistrate Maria Eugènia Alegret considers that Torrent, Josep Costa, Eusebi Campdepadrós and Ariadna Delgado could have committed a crime of serious disobedience and gives them a period of ten days to submit their defence briefs.

In the last meeting of the year, the Parliamentary Bureau approved a reform of the age leave system that allowed the chamber's workers to get paid without working from the age of 60 to 65, a real scandal that has come to light thanks to an ARA investigation. The current Speaker, Laura Borràs, defended on Monday that the changes were not brought about by this newspaper's request for information but respond to her own initiative, despite the fact that ARA's request was made in April, eight months before the changes were approved. In any case, what is important is to analyse what was unanimously approved by the Bureau to see if it really puts an end to the labour privileges workers of Parliament enjoy. And the answer is no.

As already happened in the case of Quim Torra when he was dispossessed first of his seat in the Parliament and then of his position as president of the Generalitat, in the case of the CUP's Pau Juvillà the disproportion between a conviction for disobedience for keeping some yellow ribbons in the window of his office in Lleida's city hall and the practical consequences, which are to lose his seat, is totally out of place. And this is leaving aside the fact that the sentence itself is questionable because it drives a collision between a supposed right to neutrality of public space during elections with a fundamental right such as freedom of expression. The fact is that once again we are witnessing the interference of the judiciary and a new political-legal battle with an uncertain outcome.

A new term has started but the legal consequences of the previous term are yet to play out. Friday was the last day of Roger Torrent as Speaker, as well as for the hitherto members of the parliamentary bureau. Two weeks before leaving office they learned that the prosecutor's office was seeking to prosecute them for disobedience and now Catalonia's High Court has admitted the procedure. The prosecution accuses the former Speaker and the pro-independence members of the bureau - Josep Costa, Eusebi Campdepadrós and Adriana Delgado - of disobedience for having processed a resolution to respond to the conviction of the 2017 referendum organisers, in which, among other things, they reiterated Parliament's commitment to the self-determination of Catalonia and the reprobation of the monarchy, despite the warnings of the chamber lawyers that this could violate the prohibition of the Constitutional Court.

Laura Borràs will be the new Speaker of the Catalan Parliament. According to various sources consulted by ARA, this is JxCat's proposal, after weeks in which she meditated her political future. As this newspaper explained, she was also considering the option of becoming the vice-president of Pere Aragonès' government, but most of the party's sources were in favour of her opting for the chamber's speakership. Thus, tomorrow in the constitutive session of the Parliament, Borràs will be elected with the votes of ERC, while awaiting the position adopted by the CUP.

As has become customary in Catalan politics in recent years, negotiations are running out of time. The composition of the Parliamentary Bureau that will emerge from the 14 February elections will be no exception, and in the end everything points to the pro-independence supporters closing the negotiations in extremis. This Wednesday Esquerra, JxCat and the CUP met again in a three-way meeting in Parliament, but ended the meeting without a common position. Carles Puigdemont's party announced in the afternoon that it will present a candidacy to preside over the Parliament, which clashes with the CUP's aspirations to lead the chamber. Before the Parliament is constituted this Friday, a 24-hour negotiation against the clock is underway to find out whether or not there is finally an agreement on the governing body of the chamber.

In the midst of negotiations to invest the next president, the three pro-independence groups in the Parliament have wanted to express their support for the Parliamentary Bureau after the Attorney General's Office filed a complaint for disobedience. In a joint press conference in the Catalan chamber, in which they have not wanted to answer any questions about the talks to form a new government, ERC, JxCat and the CUP have presented a resolution in which they commit to continue debating on self-determination and the reprobation of the monarchy if deputies in the next legislature want it. "Parliament notes that it has approved dozens of political resolutions on the right to self-determination since 1989 and is committed to continue doing so if this is the will of the deputies of the chamber," says the motion signed by Anna Caula (ERC), Gemma Geis (JxCat) and Maria Sirvent (CUP).

The CUP has shown again today its willingness to assume the presidency of the Parliament, provided that a programmatic agreement is closed with ERC and JxCat. In a press conference after the political council, where it has been discussed, but not voted, the possibility that the cupaires enter in the new government or preside over the Catalan chamber, the deputy Carles Riera has recognized the importance that the Bureau will have in fulfilling the " goals of the legislature ". "The Parliamentary Bureau will have a fundamental role in this legislature to prevent the extreme right from spreading its hate speech, to guarantee sovereignty and that everything can be debated and discussed without restrictions from the TC (High Court), and we are willing to assume all the responsibilities, but it will never be an exchange of chairs", said the number 2 of the candidacy.