Former Alpine skier Bosch competed at the Lillehammer 1994 and Nagano 1998 Olympics, and has been President of the Catalan Winter Sports Federation.

Her new key role involves leading the technical team for the Pyrenees-Barcelona 2030 proposal, and is under the coordination of the Government of Catalonia's Department of the Presidency.

The President of the Government of Catalonia is Pere Aragonès, whose Republican Left of Catalonia is pro-Catalan independence.

As reported by El Español, Aragon President Javier Lambán lambasted the appointment, and accused the Catalan independence movement of creating an "intolerant and exclusive" environment for the 2030 bid, and of seeking to "ruin and boycott" the development of the regional project.

"Aragon has exhausted its patience with the independentists, this is unacceptable and they will have to be held accountable," Lambán was quoted by El Español.

He also argued the Government of Catalonia was taking a divisive approach to the Olympic bid, with both regions intended to play equal roles in its coordination.

"Aragon could present a candidacy as powerful or more than that of Catalonia, but we have always understood that this was a candidacy of Spain led by the COE (Spanish Olympic Committee) on equal terms, and we have never subordinated the general interest of Spain to the maintenance of outdated ideologies, of excluding nationalisms that are proving so devastating in the EU (European Union) as a whole," Lambán said.

He declared that hosting the Games in 2030 would not be viable if the Generalitat - the Government of Catalonia - continues its present course.

"With the conditions that the Generalitat of Catalonia is proposing there will be no Games," he said.

El Español also reported that the head of the Government of Aragon has asked for COE President Alejandro Blanco to intervene, and for the Spanish Government led by Pedro Sánchez to make a "definitive decision".

This is not the first escalation of tensions between the partners in the bid.

In November last year, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Juan Antonio Samaranch warned that a lack of unity "between all the institutions involved" would undermine the Pyrenees-Barcelona bid.

"We will get hurt, we will waste time and it will cost us money," the former IOC vice-president told radio station COPE.

Last August, the Mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau also accused Aragonès' administration of a lack of consultation with the city, while there was also wrangling over the omission of Aragon from the bid title.

However, Minister of the Presidency of Catalonia Laura Vilagrà confirmed in January that a referendum on the project would be held later this year.

An opposition group in November called for it to be abandoned, but a Government of Catalonia poll has found nearly 75 per cent were supportive of the candidacy.

A delegation of four Spanish officials, including COE President Blanco, met with Olympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina President Marijan Kvesić at Beijing 2022 to discuss an idea that the bid for 2030 could include sliding and Nordic events in Sarajevo, which staged the Winter Olympics in 1984.

The Bosnian capital enjoys historic relations with Barcelona, which hosted the first Summer Games in 1992 at which the country was able to compete under its own flag.

The Pyrenees-Barcelona bid is expected to face three former Winter Olympics hosts Sapporo, Salt Lake City and Vancouver as rivals.

The 2030 Games are set to be the first Winter Olympics and Paralympics awarded under the new process whereby the IOC engages in a targeted approach with selected countries, as opposed to a more traditional bidding race,

Its Future Host Commission then identifies and proposes its preferred candidate to the Executive Board, which can then recommend the bid be put forward to a vote at an IOC Session.

Brisbane for the 2032 Summer Games became the first city to be awarded hosting rights in this way.

The IOC claim this approach helps to reduce costs for potential hosts and promotes more sustainable bids, although critics have questioned a perceived lack of transparency.