Until tonight there is time to collect guarantees. Just over 50 are needed to qualify to lead the Esquerra Barcelona federation. Some 1,040 militants are called this Friday to decide who will be in charge of one of the most influential local sections of the party: whether the team of Eva Baró, current councilor and secretary of knowledge management at ERC, or the group formed around the General Secretary of Education of the Government, Patrícia Gomà. That two or three projects go to the polls competing is unusual. It hasn't been produced since 2008. And there is a rush.
The two candidates indicate that on Saturday, once the winner is formally proclaimed at the party congress, they will close ranks. But until then knives fly. Blunt but forceful. “On the other team, sectors that have been hating each other have ended up coming together,” they say from Baró's team. They also accuse their rivals of having “boycotted” the federation in recent years, which former deputy Gerard Gómez del Moral has presided over.
Furthermore, a letter from Robert Fabregat, another former president of the Barcelona federation, from 2015 to 2019, has strained the pre-campaign. Fabregat wrote via WhatsApp to his party contacts in which he supported Baró. Gomà's pre-candidacy considered that the former leader had been “offensive” and “disqualifying” towards Horitzó Barcelona.
Fabregat said: “I have felt the duty to send you this letter to make known my support for Eva and her team, and share the risk of returning to the past. To establish ourselves again in toxic dynamics, which fragmented and disunited us internally, against which we rebelled and believed we were overcome. We cannot lose what we conquered and rebuilt with the utmost generosity and will to contribute.”
The ERC ethics commission resolved that the letter is framed in “freedom of expression” and the “right of militants to position themselves in favor of one of the candidates,” and rejected its disqualification of Horitzó Barcelona, “which does not allude.”
“They got angry, they took it as a stab,” they say from La Barcelona de Totes, Baró's candidacy, while highlighting that the commission saw nothing in the letter. Gomà, on the other hand, insists: “It is legitimate to take a position, but it was aggressive; "These are little things that happen between colleagues who get nervous and stop braking."
More disputes: Gomà's candidacy boasts of being formed from the grassroots, while Baró's is described as “continuist”. He gives an example: Toni Vidal, number two on Baró's list, is the finance secretary of the federation, "and he goes with a speech of change and renewal, when he has not done anything while he has had responsibilities to do so," says Gomà. . He also accuses Baró of not seeing them “free enough to say that a new person is needed for mayor.” That is, look for a replacement for Ernest Maragall, who still leads the municipal group. And furthermore, he affirms that Baró “causes tribulation” due to her status as vice president of a Provincial Council chaired by the PSC.
Bernat Gimeno, in Baró's group, contradicts what Gomà states. He does not avoid the debate about Maragall's replacement. “We will have to make strategic decisions,” he says, also regarding the possibility of entering the municipal government of socialist Jaume Collboni. “We are a long way from entering,” he says. He also rejects the “continuist” label: “With respect to whom? In his candidacy they have two general secretaries – Oriol Amorós, in the Department of Social Rights, and Gomà herself – and Jordi Coronas, a councilor with many flying hours. “We have good harmony with the national leadership of the party, but they are more grassroots militant than them, who also have a critical vision of the leadership” chaired by Oriol Junqueras, says Gimeno.
“We are all Junkerists,” Gomà replies. “To say that we do not empathize with those who have suffered repression is brutally bad faith,” and he emphasizes that “it is not being anti-Junquerista to say that Ernest has to leave him, but rather to be consistent with what everyone thinks.” However, he does not refrain from pointing out some doubts: “The national leadership never tires of telling us that it is neutral; If later it turns out that it is not true, I cannot say it.”
On Friday it will be known who replaces Gómez del Moral at the head of the federation. His was a consensus name. Until his name emerged, Marina Gassol, who died recently and was a councilor in Barcelona, and Albert Castellanos, current Secretary of Business of the Government, were competing for the presidency. Baró's candidacy is declared a continuation of Gassol. “But the consensus was artificial. The other sector dedicated itself to undermining the mandate,” they assert from La Barcelona de totes.
La Barcelona de Totes has well-known public support, such as the express pronouncement of Carme Forcadell. The Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, is part of his team, as well as the former councilor Montse Benedí or the deputy in the Parliament José Rodríguez. On behalf of Horitzó Barcelona is councilor Coronas or Edu Thió, who led the group with Jordi Portabella. The team does not lack experience: Oriol Amoròs presided over the federation from 2004 to 2011 and Gomà succeeded him from 2012 to 2015. The Minister of Territory, Ester Capella, supports him.
