Junts mayors push to tighten registration

Barcelona"There must be a change regarding the municipal register. It's illogical that you can register someone who says they live on the river." Thus, in a recent interview with Europa Press, the Secretary General of Junts, Jordi Turull, advocated a review of the way municipalities register their residents. This proposal responds to internal pressure, which has intensified recently, from Junts mayors to tighten registration requirements and implement a series of reforms to social assistance in the face of the rise in immigration and also "occupations," they maintain. According to sources familiar with this internal lobby, several mayors have endorsed a report prepared by one of Junts' advisors at the Barcelona Provincial Council, which diagnoses, according to them, the "problems" currently facing the local community and proposes a series of legal changes that they hope will be embraced by the entire Junts leadership.

The mayors cite aspects such as the registration of newcomers or the census in relation to occupations, but not only that: they also call for changes in access to the social assistance system or the requirements for providing benefits. Among other things, they are talking about reforming the basic law of the local government, which is the legislation that includes the regulation of the census and which falls under state jurisdiction. Thus, they intend for Junts to bring this issue to the negotiating table with the PSOE and for an initiative to be promoted in Congress. In fact, the council members have already promoted changes to the Penal Code to streamline unemployment, a demand also of the mayors.

However, not everyone within Junts welcomes the mayors' contributions. "There is a different vision of the territory and of a part of the parliamentary group and the national leadership," acknowledge local sources consulted by ARA, since a part of Junts is wary of taking up the banner of tightening registration, which until now has flown alone by the far right.

Other sources consulted from Junts advocate opening the debate beyond and not focusing on the issue of the registration, but rather addressing how Catalonia, which needs immigration – they emphasize – absorbs this increase in population without saturating public services, they say. They give the Danish Social Democracy as an example, which has implemented restrictive immigration policies based on the argument of reducing poverty, they say.

Reflection meeting

According to sources consulted by ARA, a meeting was held this Friday, attended by several Junts mayors, part of the national leadership—Turull connected remotely—and representatives of the group from the Parliament, Congress, and the Senate. "We all listened to each other," asserts one of those consulted, while another also agrees that the meeting served to pool their different positions. "We need to talk about it," reiterates another councilor, while a mayor asserts that not only are they demanding changes to the electoral roll, but also, privately, the PSC mayors of the metropolitan area.

At the last Junts congress, the party reached a consensus regarding immigration that consisted of promoting a national pact for integration policies. It specified, among other things: the "obligation" of town councils to register and that, from this fact, "rights and duties" would arise. This position is considered lax by some Junts mayors, who favor a tougher line. In fact, some are calling for the idea of holding a specific convention to internally debate immigration to be revived, an idea that the party shelved—despite being planned for the end of 2024—because it decided to include the discussion within the October congress.

The growth of AC

One only has to look at the newspaper archives of recent months to see that, from the region, they are demanding a tougher approach from the national leadership, especially in inland Catalonia, a traditional stronghold of Junts. As published by ARA, The mayor of Figueres, Jordi Masquef, is removing people from the register – up to 804 last year –; the mayor of Vic, Albert Castells, asked in an interview The Punt Avui, Last month, a "thorough review of the census" was announced; the mayor of Martorell, Xavier Fonollosa, also stated a few weeks ago that he would not register squatters unless compelled by the courts; and the councilor in Manresa, Ramon Bacardit, declared "enough" to more immigration at the last plenary session of the City Council, which is led by Mayor Marc Aloy, of the ERC (Republican Revolutionary Party). A position also shared by the mayors of Maresme, led by Marc Buch (Calella), and Arnau Rovira, of Manlleu. From Sant Cugat, Mayor Josep Maria Vallès has advocated a different measure: reforming Catalan law so that, to access social housing, a minimum of ten years of registration is required.

For now, however, the national leadership is asking for time to reconcile the discourse and all internal sensitivities.