Puigdemont meets with mayors to ease internal discontent within Junts

BarcelonaPolls predict a downward trend for Junts per Catalunya and there is just over a year and a half left until the municipal elections of 2027. A reality that for weeks, as ARA has advanced, has generated discomfort among mayors, councilors, and regional officials from Junts. Following a meeting with the secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, in Manresa, this Monday the Junts municipalist group traveled to Waterloo to meet with the party's leader, Carles Puigdemont. Also present was Turull, a delegation led by the mayor of Sant Cugat del Vallès, Josep Maria Vallès, held a meeting that should serve to reduce internal discontent and ensure that the local community feels heard. A representation of Junts mayors expressed to the former president of the Generalitat their growing "concern" in two areas: the multiple reoffending rate and illegal home occupations, according to the party in a statement.

However, no Junts party has sought to highlight any debate surrounding the party's change of direction, but rather to criticize the PSOE and the PSC. The party has officially released a statement in which the mayors express their "concern over the PSOE's blocking of laws against repeated offenses and criminal employment," and has demanded their swift approval. This is a barb that the PP has also been using for some time, according to the Speaker of Congress, Francina Armengol, who heads the committee responsible for prioritizing the consideration of some legislative initiatives in the plenary session over others.

Along the same lines, Junts has also expressed concern about "the lack of response from the Catalan and Spanish governments to these people's problems," and has taken the opportunity to unleash further criticism against the Socialists for their tax policies, which it considers "are impoverishing the middle classes," such as "the latest attempt to raise the" - to be rectified by the strong rejection - and the refusal to grant the inheritance tax discount.

According to the party's official statement, "improving local financing" and having to assume "more responsibilities with fewer resources" are key issues for the mayors. In addition to Vallès, the meeting was attended by the mayor of Vic, Albert Castells, and the mayor of Sant Climent de Llobregat and metropolitan leader, Isidre Sierra, as well as other mayors, such as Òscar Fernández (Cabrera de Mar), Natàlia Figueres (Maçanet de la Selva) and Xavier Lluch, Xavier Lluch, Joan Ramon Casals.

Territorial unrest

Now, does the meeting put an end to the unrest? Several local sources were skeptical about the outcome of the meeting, given that the initiative to meet with Puigdemont had initially not come from the municipalist space (which is an official body within the party) but from several mayors and local officials with a very specific objective: a change of direction for the party, rather than complaining about the PSOE and the PSC. Beyond adapting their discourse to the reality of the mayors, addressing issues of security, immigration, and housing, these elected officials also wanted a representative in Parliament (currently, there is no opposition representative appointed) and the freedom to make deals with whomever they wish, from the PSC to Aliança, including the PP. In fact, the mayor of Vic, Albert Castells, who was present at the meeting, does not apply the cordon sanitaire (a cordon sanitaire) to the far right in his city council, considering it counterproductive. Hence, according to some party sources consulted by ARA, if the Puigdemont and Turull leadership fails to act after Monday's meeting, the discontent could grow in the future.