The candidacy of Xavier Trias for the mayoralty of Barcelona is also part of the long journey for the recreation of the old pujolisme, a relevant episode, despite the many specificities that define the essence of local elections. A good result for the Junts candidate would consolidate a new relationship of forces and strengthen the positions of the supporters to straighten the course towards the possibility of the extinct Convergència, the one that agreed with the Barcelona bourgeoisie before the process and the explosion of the system of Catalan parties.
In fact, Trias is one of them and is taking advantage of the pre-campaign to gather around the remains of the converging wreck, starting with PDECat. The goal of many now looks more like the model of the first government of Artur Mas before his independence conversion and his step aside in January 2016.
But in that search for reconciliation with the bourgeoisie and big business, a basic social agent in the Catalan nationalist imagination, Trias is not alone. In this narrow and delimited social space, the ERC, the other pro-independence formation that competes for hegemony with the ex-convergents and that holds the status of being the Government party, has been trying to take positions for some time.
From the Generalitat chaired by Pere Aragonès, but also from the party, represented by Oriol Junqueras, the republicans have maintained countless contacts and meetings with the business world. But the balance, at the moment, presents more dark than light. And this despite the commitment to dialogue and negotiation with the central Government of the Generalitat, for years one of the battle horses of the big businessmen.
Junqueras has been one of the most active and has maintained direct dialogue with the core of this influential social sector. However, this has not resulted in an understanding or agreement to move forward in matters of common interest, assure sources who have participated in the talks.
In reality, the task undertaken by Junqueras is quite mission impossible. On the one hand, it wants to get closer to the classic bourgeoisie, but its electoral market is mainly in sectors sociologically classified as lower middle class, many of which aspired, in the midst of the effervescence of the process, to replace these elites that they now want to have in near The good words, when they are there, have not yet made us forget the tense moments of the recent past.
The obvious difficulties of ERC to take Barcelona electorally make this clear. In the 2019 municipal elections, its candidate, then and now Ernest Maragall, won first place thanks to having beaten the leader of the commons, Ada Colau, by just 5,000 votes. But then, the circumstantial candidate of the majority of the bourgeoisie, Manuel Valls, the head of the Cs list, blocked his way by giving his support, unsolicited, to the current mayoress. And although many of the sponsors regretted the election of their sponsored, things have not changed in the sense of favoring the Republican candidate. The astral conjunction has evolved for the worse for him. Which leads us to think about the limitations of the Republican bet to consider the classic bet of the convergent formula as dead and buried. Especially if he does not occupy a relevant position in the Catalan capital.
Leaving aside historical considerations and social chemistry, the truth is that neither the party nor the Government that presides over Aragonès have managed to formulate a speech or program that this business or financial class can consider satisfactory. It would be fair to think that, for the moment, it has been quite the opposite in the hottest topics or that most concern the patricians of the economy: the expansion of El Prat airport or the taxation policy of the Generalitat are two of the main files.
In addition, everything indicates that the next electoral campaigns, the municipal one, but also the general ones at the end of this year, are moving towards the accentuation of the right and left axis, with a strong content of social affairs, such as now that of housing, pensions and wages and more generally the services of the Welfare State. A focus that will accentuate the Republicans' points of friction with the economic world.
On the contrary, the current climate of economic tranquility, challenged by a galloping inflation that can worsen the climate and crack the social peace, seems to offer fertile ground for the traditional positions of the disintegrated nuclei of the convergent galaxy .
A touchstone of the competition between pro-independence parties may occur in the Chamber, which must hold elections this year as well, on a date yet to be determined. The Government is promoting the candidacy of a group of businessmen led by Josep Santacreu. The current presidency of the business entity is held by Mònica Roca, from Eines de País, at the same time as Junts. Now probably in limbo after the fragmentation of that party.
Neither has the support of the big company or the big employers, unlike the previous campaign, in which it bet on the candidacy of Carles Tusquets. For example, Agbar, chaired by Àngel Simón, one of the most active parties in the public debate, has communicated profusely that they do not have a candidate. Identical position from La Caixa. The same line maintained by Foment, chaired by Josep Sánchez Llibre
