The leadership of the Barcelona Federation of Esquerra Republicana and the party’s municipal group in the City Council of the Catalan capital are in a hurry to enter the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni (PSC). In a situation that would cause tensions with the National Executive, the bodies headed by Eva Baró (who is also a councilor) and Elisenda Alamany, intend to call a vote in which the Barcelona militancy decides on entry into the municipal government. It could be next Thursday or a week later, in an extraordinary congress, say several party sources, who predict a hot national permanent this Monday.
All this occurs when Pere Aragonès (little supporter of the pact) lost the presidency of the Generalitat on March 12, the European elections will have passed, and Oriol Junqueras (who had endorsed the pact in Barcelona, according to the same sources), will leave the presidency of the game this Monday.
Two mayoral positions and three districts
The agreement at the City Council to enter the Collboni executive was closed last March, but the early electoral advance of the Parliamentary elections paralyzed it. Now, and although it is still unknown what role awaits ERC in the political future of Catalonia, a part of the party wants to “ratify” it and “materialize” it without waiting for what happens in Parliament. According to the agreement between Republicans and Socialists in the City Council, the new partners would have two mayoral positions (a part of the economic portfolio and social rights, with responsibilities for the use of the Catalan language) and three of the ten districts. Collboni governs with only 10 of the 41 councilors in the plenary session and the Republicans have only five, after falling by half in the May 2023 elections.
Officially, the municipal group does not confirm the intention to consult the militancy this week. Remember that it has always been answered that “when the electoral cycle was over, we would return to the stage of conversations and exploring governance and, if agreements were reached, they would vote.” “What is clear is that Barcelona and its militancy must be able to debate, evaluate and end up deciding the role of ERC in Barcelona, but dates have never been discussed. The Barcelona federation will be the one who will discuss the best way to do it, if necessary,” they add.
Complicated week
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Esquerra faces a complicated week internally. The president of the party, Oriol Junqueras, announced after the debacle of the Catalan elections that he would momentarily leave the leadership of the party after 9-J to be another grassroots activist until the ERC congress in November. His idea is to tour the territory to gather and contrast the support of the various territorial groups and thus try to revalidate his leadership.
Sources close to Junqueras explain that the former vice president will say goodbye this Monday at the party’s permanent. On Tuesday, he will also go to say goodbye to the ERC workers. Junqueras will begin his tour of the territory without the party resources to which he had access based on his position, such as the driver and advisors. The Mossos bodyguards that he currently has are assigned not because of his status as president of ERC but because of the risk to which he is exposed as a politician.
Junqueras expressed after 12-M his desire to continue as president of Esquerra, in the face of a president in office, Pere Aragonès, who left the front line of politics to assume his responsibility for the debacle. The acting head of the Government, as later the general secretary, Marta Rovira, have been in favor of a change of faces in the party after a very bad electoral cycle for the Republicans.
All in all, this Sunday’s victory, although very modest, allows the now former president of ERC to be able to exhibit good results in his tour of the territory. The signing of Tomàs Molina, for example, was his personal decision and the campaign for the European Championships has been put on his shoulders.
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