ERC appoints a caretaker committee in Barcelona in the face of a rebellion from critics until a congress can be convened

BarcelonaERC appoints a management committee in the Barcelona federation to handle the interim situation the party is experiencing after Friday More than half of the party's leadership in the Catalan capital resignedHowever, it will be the federation's president herself, Creu Camacho, who will lead this interim management committee until a date is set to convene a congress to elect a new executive committee. This is the agreement reached between the national leadership and Creu Camacho, who met Tuesday morning to address the federation's crisis. "The current leadership of the Barcelona Federation will continue as a provisional leadership until the congress to elect a new executive committee is held," ERC stated in a press release.

The date of the congress will be decided by the current interim management committee, which will also include the board members who have not resigned, the presidents of the district centers, and representatives from the Jovent Republicà (Republican Youth) of the city. According to the same statement, the federation's leadership will announce the date "in the coming days." The internal regulations stipulate that, if half of the leadership resigns, a congress must be convened within a maximum of one month. Failing that, the national leadership will appoint an interim committee until a congress date is set. This second scenario is the one the current leadership has opted for, in coordination with Camacho. With the calendar in hand, and the deadline approaching, the congress could have coincided with the Christmas holidays, something the national leadership wanted to avoid.

The primaries for the municipal list lead candidate

The interim management committee will be responsible for setting the date for the congress to elect the new leadership of ERC in Barcelona, ​​but it will also be responsible for continuing the process of holding primaries to choose the lead candidate for the upcoming municipal elections. "This procedure neither prevents nor alters the holding of primaries to elect the candidate for mayor of Barcelona, ​​according to the terms and deadlines agreed upon at the federation's executive meeting on November 20," the ERC national leadership stated in a press release. Elisenda Alamany, the party's current general secretary and leader of the municipal group in Barcelona, ​​had already put herself forward as a candidate. According to the party's internal regulations, the powers of an interim management committee include "assuming the responsibilities of the executive committees and, where applicable, managing the corresponding electoral processes." The regulations also stipulate the requirements for those who can be part of the interim committee: they must be party members and be up-to-date with their dues. However, it also indicates that they don't need to be "members from the relevant territorial area." In other words, members of the national leadership can be part of it. This happened, for example, with the interim management committee the party appointed in the Valencian Community, but in this case, the party has opted to give Cruz Camacho carte blanche.

This gesture demonstrates the alignment the current president of the federation now has with the party leadership on Calàbria Street. Camacho ran in the April primaries with a candidacy critical of Oriol Junqueras' current leadership and won by just 14 votes against the official candidate, Eva Baró. However, the current crisis within the federation stems from the fact that more than half of the leadership who ran alongside Camacho believe that the president has made decisions "unilaterally" and hasn't put up enough of a fight against the national leadership in defending the federation's interests. However, on Monday, party spokesman Isaac Albert, speaking from the national leadership, accused the critics "of trying to play politics against the leadership."