The head of the Junts per Catalunya list for mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, received the support of more than 150 personalities from civil society for his candidacy this Wednesday in an act at the Gaudí theater, in which the manifesto "Xavier, confiem en tu" from the platform supporting the former mayor convergent Millor per Barcelona.
The text calls for a change for the Catalan capital and calls for a transformation and development of the "smart, healthy and sustainable" city that generates social and economic progress.
To this end, the signatories, including businessmen from various fields, people from the world of culture and letters, lawyers, academics or doctors, among others, prescribe "starting a new stage of dialogue, collaboration and agreement with all the agents representatives of civil society and political representatives" who advocate for the change they advocate.
Among the signatories are the writer and poet Marta Pessarrodona, doctor Bonaventura Clotet, the businessman Tatxo Benet, the cook Ada Parellada and the businessman and candidate for the presidency of Barça Victor Font. Also the lawyer Jordi Pina, the cartoonist Pilarín Bayes and in less prominent positions appear the feminist lawyer Magda Oranich, the doctor Magda Campins and many other businessmen, or people from the field of sport such as Anna Tarrés.
“We are convinced that Trias embodies the positive change that Barcelona needs” conclude the 158 people who have signed the manifesto. The initial list of adherents to the manifesto, which is still open, is symbolically closed by former councilor and former minister Joaquim Forn, who was one of those who read the text together with the cook Ada Parallada, the writer and poet Àlex Susanna and the editor and writer Iolanda Batallé, director of the Ona bookstore.
The coordinator of the Millor per Barcelona platform, Josep Maria Via, a doctor and friend of Trias, also acted as opening act and master of ceremonies. During his initial intervention, he emphasized that Millor per Barcelona, an organization that supports the JxCat candidate and reflects the spirit of the Amics d'en Trias platform from other electoral contests, does not want to signify itself as a political platform but rather civic In addition, Via has affirmed that the accent is placed on the discontent about how the city is going and on the illusion, the enthusiasm and the hope that Trias will be the mayor again. "Without asking people what they vote for in other elections, if they are nationalist, Catalan or pro-independence," Via added.
"We have an advantage compared to 2011, the people in charge now are a disaster", Trias pointed out when he took the floor to thank the support he has received. "There is only one formation that says very clearly that it will not govern with Mrs. Ada Colau, not because it contradicts her, but because this does not work," added the candidate, who has prescribed the creation of economic activity to deal with poverty and inequality. "We need people to come to invest, the creation of economic activity is very important," he concluded.
In another order of things, Trias has considered his candidacy a "miracle". "We have achieved a miracle because we have managed to bring Junts per Catalunya together with PDECat, Democrates de Catalunya and MES Moviment d'Esquerres, so many acronyms that I don't even know them anymore", Trias highlighted. "We need to govern with the complicity of the people", he conjured himself up at the end.
The businesswoman Gemma Recoder, the journalist Josep Maria Casanovas, the businesswoman Cinta Pascual and the doctor Josep Maria Llovet have explained their relationship with the convergent former mayor and why they support him. One of the highlighted aspects, apart from the management and the city project, has been his "conciliatory" and pact-minded attitude, or the fact that he is a favorable candidate for public-private collaboration and with an outstretched hand to the business community .
In the front rows of the Gaudí theater you could also see several members of the Trias list such as former councilor Victorìa Alsina, former councilor Ramon Tremosa, councilors Jordi Martí, Neus Munté, Joan Rodríguez and Francina Vila.
