The leader of ERC in Barcelona City Council, the veteran politician Ernest Margall, announced this Friday by surprise, after four hours of plenary session and at the end of a proposal to recover the Via Laietana police station as a center of historical memory, his intention to leave the council in December. “Take note of my resignation from the councilor’s record,” the Republican asked Mayor Jaume Collboni, who presides over the plenary session. “December will be my last plenary session,” he concluded before the first mayor, who acknowledged: “I don’t know what is done in these cases. Should we open a turn for interventions?”
This Friday’s announcement comes 13 days after the number two of the Republicans, Elisenda Alamany, stated that Maragall would not remain the four-year term in the council and that her successor will be her. “She will not continue these four years at the head of the municipal group and the reins will be taken by the next person on the list, which I am,” she stated. Some words that also came as a surprise, even though the party tried to ensure that the departure of its leader was not news. Maragall won the elections in the Catalan capital in 2019, tying in seats with the commons of former mayor Ada Colau, who relied on the votes of the PSC and Manuel Valls to snatch the mayor’s office from her.
The uncertainty about whether Collboni will incorporate partners
Maragall is leaving at the age of 80, despite the fact that before and after the municipal elections in May he maintained that he would remain in the City Council for the entire term, whether he was in the government or participating in the opposition. The farewell of the veteran politician from institutional life coincides with the moment when, with the investiture of Pedro Sánchez already materialized, Mayor Collboni must decide whether to incorporate partners into his Government or continue leading the city alone, with only 10 councilors out of 41. If he ends up incorporating partners, the socialist preferably bets on COMMONS and ERC, and Maragall’s departure will clear the decision-making of the municipal group.
To date, Alamany has been very critical of Collboni’s management, who sees the right leaning, and has opted to remain in the opposition, from where they have rejected several socialist initiatives. “Political vote” she calls number two, which she makes self-criticism after the loss of half of the seats in last May’s elections. But the party leadership will also have something to say, and even more so when she has just elected a new leadership in the Barcelona federation, the result of an official candidacy that she won by the bare minimum.
What affects the most is what happens closest. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe
The Republican, who also has an extensive career with the PSC acronym (under the socialist acronym he was a councilor in Barcelona and a counselor in the Tripartite government), has explained that his decision is “strictly personal, taken conscientiously and voluntarily, exposing a single underlying reason: Barcelona.” With ERC he has been a deputy, an MEP and also a Government advisor, as well as a councilor in Barcelona.
After Maragall’s announcement, his municipal group has assured that “he will continue working tirelessly for Barcelona from a position away from the political front line, as the majority of citizens do.” The resignation will be formalized in the plenary session scheduled for December 22. Rosa Suriñach, who was already councilor during the last months of the last term, will take her place as councilor.
You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter
#Ernest #Maragall #ERC #announces #surprise #leave #Barcelona #City #Council #December