The Catalan People's Party reopens old wars and weakens Alejandro Fernández.

BarcelonaThis week saw a shake-up in the Catalan People's Party, with changes in the leadership of two of the four Catalan provinces: Tarragona and Girona, two districts where the state leadership and the party itself in Catalonia identified urgently needed replacements for different reasons. But these changes, particularly those in Tarragona, have brought back memories of old battles involving the new leader, Maria Mercè Martorell, and the current president of the party in Catalonia, Alejandro Fernández—who is further weakened by the structure. Specifically significant is the loss of the Salou councilor who until now was president, Mario García, who enjoyed Fernández's utmost confidence and campaigned for him when very few did in the battle with Alberto Núñez Feijóo. He is replaced by a team of opposing views because it embraces the "constitutional Catalanism" that the Galician leader would like, according to various sources, and because it places Martorell, who is also a councilor from Tarragona - protagonist of notorious past clashes with the Catalan leader when he was also a councilor and local leader - as the new leader, accompanied by Josep Piqué. In Girona, on the other hand, a new fire is chosen to replace Jaume Veray with the young man from Empordà Daniel Ruiz, who was his number two.

According to multiple knowledgeable sources consulted by ARA, Martorell, who currently holds the highest authority in the state leadership, even tore up her party membership due to political disputes with Fernández over the city leadership almost two decades ago—which Fernández won. She left the PP and politics in general in episodes that are remembered as gloomy in the province. From 1995 to 2007, she was a city councilor and even deputy mayor for Historical Heritage in the last eight years—thanks to the coalition with CiU—but the constant clashes with Fernández reached a point of no return, and in 2007 she unsuccessfully promoted a platform. Now, in 2023, more than fifteen years after those events, Martorell was anointed by Feijóo's leadership as mayoral candidate, and even after the elections, the party's secretary general, Miguel Tellado, announced that she would be the one to repeat as a candidate.

The historic councilor, a lawyer and real estate agent by profession, has displayed a pragmatic attitude. "We see what we have, which is that everyone is with Feijóo, whose moderate does everything in Catalan and is linked to constitutional Catalanism," say sources consulted. A panel reports that "they have ruined Fernández's profile" with a "good signing for Tarragona" who is still widely remembered as "going out and tearing up her membership card for him." An episode of "problems" with Fernández that another cadre remembers well, aware that the party leader in Catalonia "is very alone" in the provincial structure, with the only leader close to him stepping aside, although he maintains that the Catalan leader "doesn't care" and "lets things happen," concerned only with the ideological line and the speeches. The loss of provincial influence is evident, but one voice asserts that "there is no interpretation" in the sense of wanting to make "Alejandro Fernández lose weight."

Fernández's entourage plays up past disputes with Martorell and assures that he has "no problem" with the arrivals and departures. Focused on the task of giving ideological substance to the party, from his hard-line liberal position, he has not worried too much about a restructuring that depends on Génova, with which he maintains always complex relations. episodes included high tension, including publicly in interviews and speeches or in a book with a clear message for Feijóo. The majority support of the rank and file has always stood out, which contrasts with the weak support of the cadres.

More entanglements

It was evident that the Tarragona PP had accumulated internal entanglements. A year before Lorena Roldán folded as a senator, the official profile of X provincial announced that she was resigning as a deputy when, in the end, the facts proved otherwiseThe internal back-and-forth was intense, with the argument being the duplication of positions—a policy that Feijóo has toughened across the board. On the other hand, in Girona there has been an "accumulation of things," such as Veray's excess of positions coupled with his recovery from cancer, according to sources close to the former president. Tellado and he spoke this August and agreed that a transition and "a replacement of young people" was necessary. Other sources in the province also maintain that "a change was needed" with a "young push" to "apply different solutions compared to those of the last forty years," in which The Veray family has played a prominent role. Something that some voices within the province had conveyed to Veray himself, saying that it was necessary for the youth to take over. According to knowledgeable sources, Tellado noted that in these two provinces "immediate changes had to be made to keep the party active, he spoke with Fernández and it was done."

The challenge is municipal, but also national to avoid starting with a landslide defeat in Catalonia – where the PP wins only six of the 48 seats. Likewise, a source points out that "one day the same thing will have to happen in Barcelona and finish off the families." Some families, among the next, Dolors Montserrat, Fernández Díaz, Xavier García Albiol, Controversial emerging figures such as Daniel Sirera and the free verses or close to Alejandro Fernández.