Together proposes excluding squatters from registration

BarcelonaThere are two years left until the municipal elections, and the parties are already moving to resolve their electoral black holes and maintain their strongholds. as the ARA advanced, They have worked on a lobby of mayors, and now the party has adopted them. They intend to reform the law so that, for example, illegal occupations are excluded from the registry, as well as those that do not have a "qualifying title or verification of residence," which would also exclude from the registry people who report that they live in municipal facilities. The secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, already publicly defended who was against allowing "everyone to register wherever they are" and demanded changes.

In the document being discussed this Saturday, to which this newspaper has had access and which has been advanced The NewspaperJunts cites as an example the practices they are carrying out in Sant Vicenç de Castellet, where they have approved an ordinance on the matter; in Martorell, where they are in litigation in the courts for refusing to register squatters, or in Figueres, where, as published by this newspaper, have removed up to 800 people from the census.

In this sense, they propose creating a separate registry from the current census for cases they want to exclude from the census—a kind of second category—and that this new registry not be the responsibility of the city councils: they want the Generalitat (Catalan government) to assume the "non-registrable cases" through mechanisms such as the social census or alternative registries. They also propose a compilation of good practices in census management and the establishment of a Charter of Rights and Duties of Citizens. With this proposal, the Junts mayors intend to address the course towards the municipal elections, in which they basically have two challenges: the first, to fill the gap they have had for years in the Barcelona metropolitan area, and the second, to face the emergence of a new competitor in inland Catalonia, the Catalan Alliance, where Junts has always been a strong party.

Junts' metropolitan problem is clear, as it has no councilors in the major cities: Badalona, ​​​​Bahia del Vallès, Barberà del Vallès, Cervelló, Cornellà de Llobregat, Sant Boy de Llobregat, San Vicente de los Huertos, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Santa Coloma de Cervelló, Hospital Adrià de Besòs, Sant Andreu de la Barca, and Viladecans are a regional desert. Their representatives in this area are the municipalities of Sant Cugat del Vallès, Sant Climent de Llobregat, and Martorell, where they govern comfortably. They also won the last elections in Barcelona with Xavier Trias, but without winning the mayor's office. Sources within the Junts leadership acknowledge the problem and the "black hole" they have in this area, but emphasize that it is "a priority" for the party. For this reason, there is a specific plan led by the party's metropolitan leader and mayor of Sant Climent de Llobregat, Isidre Sierra.

As Sierra explains to this newspaper, the metropolitan strategy is based on key themes such as security and coexistence, mobility, culture and language, economic progress, and housing. This gives them a decisive stance against crime and illegal employment, but also in the search for housing solutions, such as the Sant Cugat initiative in which they ask the Generalitat to require a minimum of ten years of registration to access social housing.

Party sources admit that "there are people who don't even think about Junts" in the metropolitan area and that "they see the party as something belonging to Parliament or inland Catalonia." The objective is to reverse the transfer of votes to the rest of the parties in the municipal elections. In the municipal elections, driven by the victory in Barcelona, ​​​​there was an improvement in the metropolitan area—it went from around 8% in 2019 to 15% in 2023—but not enough: only eleven more councilors.

When does the Junts gap begin in the metropolitan area? "2011 was the best time for CiU's presence in these cities; 2015 was not going well, and in 2019 we were lost except for Badalona, ​​​​which was also lost [in 2023]," they note from Junts, adding that "it has not been identified as a useful municipal project." They also admit that it affected the Process and that the key in the municipalities where they have maintained representation has been the "municipalist project." The cases of Martorell, where Xavier Fonollosa governs with an absolute majority; Sant Cugat, which Junts recovered in the previous elections; or Sant Climent de Llobregat, where Sierra has governed since 2011, are paradigmatic. Sierra's victories cannot be understood without the contribution of Socialist or ERC votes.

The fight with Silvia Orriols

Regarding the far-right Catalan Alliance, Junts sources emphasize that they are "mindful" about it and that they are "concerned" that it generates "hatred." They intend to "work to ensure that it doesn't take root," with a strategy of "confrontation" in their discourse and "put solutions to the problems on the table." Proposals such as reforming the electoral roll, addressing security, illegal employment, and managing immigration with the announced delegation of powers are in line with combating the rise of the far right, although, according to polls, Junts' main opponent is currently Silvia Orriols' party.

Regarding the policy of pacts, Junts officially rejects making pacts with the far right, even ahead of the upcoming municipal elections, but also states that so far the cordon sanitaire has not proven effective in halting the growth of either the Catalan Alliance or Vox.