Ripoll ponders building an anti-Orriols left-wing front

BarcelonaNeither ideas, nor project, nor future. This is the diagnosis made by the opinion group Ripoll Futur!, which was created four years ago to talk about the challenges of the Ripoll capital and which is now considering presenting a candidacy in the next municipal elections. Its promoters were Alícia Reina; Eudald Casas, president of ERC in Ripoll; Pere Jordi Piella, former PSC mayor from 1979 to 1993, and the journalist Jordi Altesa, but now they already total about twenty people eager to collaborate. "We are now enough to consider making the leap to institutional politics, although there is fear because Aliança is a steamroller," says Altesa, who acts as spokesperson for this civic movement that brings together people of a progressive nature. The polarization experienced in Ripoll, between detractors and supporters of Mayor Sílvia Orriols, is an obstacle to people getting involved, as the precursors admit.

The decision on whether or not to create a list, as ARA has learned, will be taken in October after a meeting is held again in September to weigh the opinion of the latest adherents. The promoters, however, are clear that a battle must be fought at the polls. "An alternative must be proposed with a proper face and eyes that generates enthusiasm and is committed to the people and not to the party," says Altesa in reference to Aliança Catalana. "You cannot limit yourself to being an opinion group that tells the parties what they have to do, you have to take one more step, but first we must measure our forces," adds Piella, who was the first democratic mayor of Ripoll after Francoism and who stopped being a member of the PSC in 2017 in disagreement with the PSOE's decision to abstain to allow Mariano Rajoy to be invested as president in 2016. 

If the whole movement opts to create a list, there are three possible scenarios on the table: presenting themselves as an electoral group with the handicap of having to collect, in the case of Ripoll, half a thousand signatures (if they created a new party, endorsements would not be needed); presenting themselves with the acronyms of a party, or under the umbrella of a party. What they are clear about is that the formation must be autonomous. "Decisions must be made from Ripoll, not from Waterloo," says Altesa, who recalls that the leadership of Junts played a key role in derailing the motion of no confidence to oust Orriols halfway through the term.

The fact that the ERC leader in Ripoll, Eudald Casas, is one of the promoters of the platform leads some political actors to consider that the republicans, who have not yet presented a mayoral candidate, are behind it and see it as a maneuver to create a civic list under their umbrella. "ERC has not made any decision and right now there are only individuals who are clear that Ripoll comes first, especially when it comes to a unique case," notes Casas regarding the fact that it is the only municipality in Catalonia where Aliança Catalana governs. In this sense, both he and the rest of the members of the movement coincide in pointing out that Aliança only talks about immigration or security and that it is necessary to avoid "confrontation and hatred and act all as one" to take Ripoll out of "decline" and resolve issues such as the lack of housing or the economic setback that, in his opinion, the countal town is experiencing. "Things must be done well and how we will do it is not decided," concludes the republican.

Altesa, spokesperson for Ripoll Futur!, does warn that he will never go under the acronym or umbrella of the PSC due to an ideological issue, even though the socialists have been left without representatives after their two councilors were forced to resign to allow the budgets to be approved and the rest of the members of the list declined to replace them. "I will never go on a PSC list", he makes clear. These two former socialist councilors have indeed done liked to the movement's publications, even though until now they have remained on the sidelines. There are also no CUP militants, who reveal that for the moment there is "no proposal on the table," although there are people from the CUP orbit among those who have joined. "Sooner rather than later they will come knocking and we will evaluate," they maintain.