The former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, has left the front line of politics just a decade after founding Barcelona en Comú and making the leap from street activism to administration. Colau, who already left her position as councilor on October 25, said goodbye this Saturday to the formation and her militancy with a speech that vindicated the path she had taken in recent years, but recognizing that she was leaving at a “moment difficult”.
“We must update our theses to be a useful space for social transformation,” he assured in the National Assembly of the Commons, in which the party faces a reorganization and a change of faces. Today, Colau has made what has been her last intervention as training coordinator, a position for which she has resigned to run again. “I’m leaving, but this doesn’t mean leaving the Comuns family,” he clarified.
Given his departure, his people have had to face the search for new leadership at a time when the polls do not support the party as much as they did years ago. Colau has thus left a task to her successors: “We have to strengthen our presence in the institutions.”
Jéssica Albiach will also leave the coordination. She and Colau directed the highest executive body together with Candela López. In the absence of replacement, the triumvirate will predictably become a duo in which López repeats and which is joined by Barcelona councilor Gemma Tarafa. Both are part of the former mayor’s circle of trust.
Even so, Albiach does not leave the executive, but will occupy a new position alongside Ernest Urtasun. Both will become institutional officials in the Parliament and the Government. Albiach will thus consolidate his position as head of the party in Catalonia, where the Comuns are a key element in building the majorities that Salvador Illa needs. On the other hand, Congress deputies Aina Vidal and Gerardo Pisarelo will become spokespersons replacing Joan Mena.
The replacements of the executive, in which 20 positions out of 47 will be changed, are presented in a single list that the militancy will endorse this Sunday, thus culminating a friendly and fuss-free replacement like the one that is being experienced within other Catalan parties. . What will not be discussed in this meeting is the reform of the ethical code that the training has had on the table for a long time and which establishes that its leaders can only combine an institutional position and an organic position.
This contradicts various names such as Candela López, who has held three positions for almost a year. Likewise, there are two deputies who also have responsibility in city councils: Luís Mijoler is mayor of El Prat and Núria Lozano, deputy mayor of l’Hospitalet.
“We have ended up having too many responsibilities,” acknowledged López, who has announced that “soon” she will leave the role of deputy in the Parliament to dedicate herself to the coordination of the party, a position that she will combine with that of vice-president of the Barcelona Provincial Council.
The party’s intention is to formally review this issue with the new executive, once the assembly this weekend is over.
Our sights set on the municipal elections
Colau has made it clear in his speech that the new stage of the party must be focused on reinforcing the municipalist character of the party. “We must combat local and global elites,” said the former mayor, who has claimed that, “although it is often seen as the little brother of politics, municipalism is the basis of everything.”
This thesis is shared by Jéssica Albiach, who has assured that the party lacks a “social base. We have to grow in the AMB and in rural areas.” The former coordinator has also pointed out that the formation is not municipalist “by vocation, but by strategy” and has claimed the need to reinforce the presence in the city councils as the only way to “last despite the storms.”
The only one of the three coordinators who will remain in office, Candela López, is the one who has been most self-critical, ensuring that the local nuclei “have not had the implementation that they should have had” and has agreed with her colleagues that the municipalities They are key to the future of the Commons.
The restructuring of the leadership comes after the drop in votes in the general and regional elections, as well as the loss of the Barcelona City Council, the last great bastion of a party that came to govern in various cities – now they only have three – and that It became the leading force in Catalonia in the 2016 general elections.
Now, the party’s objective is to strengthen itself in the face of the 2027 municipal elections, understanding that its playing field is in the city councils. This is how the new leadership of López and Tarafa is understood. The first was mayor of Castelldefels and is vice president of the Barcelona Provincial Council; The second occupied the health department in Barcelona.
Such is the commitment of the Comuns at the municipal level and the loss of the Catalan capital at the hands of Jaume Collboni left the formation so confused, that the former mayor, although she has left her councilor’s record, has not explicitly ruled out the possibility of running again in the 2027 elections. Meanwhile, Colau will begin teaching university classes and will hold the presidency of the party foundation together with former minister Joan Subirats, a position that lacks remuneration.
In this weekend’s assembly, which has the notable absence of Yolanda Díaz, in addition to reviewing the leadership, the Comuns will also vote on various proposals in order to establish the party’s position in different areas. They seek, among other things, to make it a reference in the fight against climate change.
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