The Comuns are preparing to make adjustments to the party during their next congress. The formation plans to carry out not only a change of faces, forced in part by the departure of Ada Colau, but also a reform in the organization of its leadership. If until now the space was directed by three coordinators, starting in November there will be two, but there will also be new roles for Jéssica Albiach and Ernest Urtasun as institutional managers, a newly created position.
In this way, Albiach, president of the parliamentary group in Catalonia, will cease to be coordinator of the political force after three years. Of the old triumvirate, formed by Colau, Albiach and Candela López, only the latter will repeat, and he will do so in tandem with Gemma Tarafa, councilor at Barcelona City Council. Both are, in addition, from the circle of trust of the former mayor Colau.
Catalunya en Comú will hold its assembly on November 16 and 17. This will be an important conclave, after the departure of Colau from both the City Council of the Catalan capital and the highest management body, but also after an electoral cycle in which the Comuns have been on the decline. It will also be the first congress after the loss of the mayor of Barcelona, a blow that has been difficult for the training to accept.
Sources from the party explain that, in the current context, the idea of restructuring the leadership of the Comuns has to do with the need to strengthen the party and focus it mainly on the electoral cycle of the next municipal elections. López was mayor of Castellfels and is vice president of the Barcelona Provincial Council, while Tarafa held the Health councilorship with Colau, so both have a marked local accent and management experience.
At the same time, the new role of Urtasun and Albiach consolidates their roles as top officials in two key areas for the Comuns: the central government, of which they are part within Sumar, and the Parliament of Catalonia, where they are a key piece to build the majorities that Salvador Illa needs.
Albiach will therefore remain the main political reference at the Catalan level. For his part, the Minister of Culture was already the Comuns’ quota in the Council of Ministers and is also the person who, from the party, is aware of the major negotiations with the socialist part of the Government.
Urtasun also acts as spokesperson for Sumar, although he does so as a representative of the coalition with which the Comuns participated in the general elections. For that reason, the party sees this role as totally compatible with the new position he will have in the Commons.
According to the calendar that governs the fourth national assembly of the formation, all candidacies must be presented before October 29. It is not expected that there will be opposition to the list that López and Tarafa will lead, who have a candidacy that tries to integrate the different families in the space.
The political and organizational presentation, which will also be closed in that same assembly, defines the Comuns as “the party of decent housing and work.” That same document addresses the need to grow the party at the municipal level, especially outside the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
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