Eight members of the executive have voted against expelling the deputy, who will become non-attached
The Junts management has endorsed expelling the parliamentarian Cristina Casol from the parliamentary group after her complaint of alleged gender-based harassment, and now it will be the parliamentary group who must execute this decision.
The resolution was taken this Monday in a tense meeting of the party executive, which began at 10 a.m. and to which Casol arrived alone 20 minutes later.
In the executive branch, the possibility of expelling her has been put to a vote and, in a “majority” manner – only 8 votes against the 23 members of the body – those who defended this option have won, according to knowledgeable sources telling Europa Press. .
This decision was made after Casol reported the Junts group to the Parliament’s Equality Office for alleged harassment, which delegated the investigation to an external company.
The report from this external company concluded that there were no proven facts – literally – in Casol’s harassment complaint, but it did describe an atmosphere of tension and work in the group “where cultural machismo is ingrained.”
It also states that there are situations of internal tension in the training and that there is “a strongly patriarchal base”, among other aspects.
Casol had already conveyed to the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, and to the president of the parliamentary group, Albert Batet, that she will not hand over her deputy’s record despite being expelled, and consequently maintains her decision to become a non-affiliated deputy in the mixed group.
At the exit of the executive, neither the president of Junts, Laura Borràs, nor the general secretary, Jordi Turull, wanted to make statements about it.
MADAULA CASE
Beyond the Casol case, the deputy and second secretary of the Board, Aurora Madaula – both close to Borràs – has also denounced the Junts group before the Equality Office and is awaiting the pertinent report.
Madaula, who is still on medical leave, generated widespread discomfort in the group after, in the ‘Parlament de les Dones’ held in November last year, he stated that he had suffered “silent violence” from colleagues.
The president of the Parliament, Anna Erra, met with her and urged her to reflect on her continuity as second secretary of the Board, and 22 of the 32 Junts deputies also signed a text against her that they presented to the Guarantees Commission.
The party leadership has always denied that there is machismo in Junts and attributes the situation to a matter of political debate, and now they are considering taking legal measures in response to the “defamations and leaks” that have occurred in these cases, according to Europa Press.
