The CEO starts again: ready for the first barometer of the year

BarcelonaA first wave in March or April; a second in July and a third around November. It has been a long time since the Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió (CEO) established this periodicity for publishing its barometers, the institute's most robust surveys since it started in 2005 (the first was commissioned by Idescat in 2004). But as of June 15, none have been published this year. What has happened at the CEO? As often happens when things don't go as expected, rumors have begun to do their thing, especially on social media. The fact is that the slowness in renewing the framework agreement to approve the companies that collect data has delayed the survey awarding process by four months. A wait that will soon end, because, as ARA has learned, the fieldwork for the first barometer of 2026 is already underway and the CEO intends to make the survey public during the first half of July.

It will then be when the CEO publishes the current snapshot of the electoral behavior of Catalans. Which parties are rising and which are falling? The ARA survey, published in March, indicated, for example, a stagnation of the PSC, a rise for ERC and, especially, for Aliança Catalana, and a significant drop for Junts.

Every time any department of the Government wants to carry out a survey, an external company must be hired to do the fieldwork. Although the data processing – what is popularly called "the kitchen" – is handled by CEO staff, the collection of information, whether in person, by telephone or via the Internet, is awarded to a specialized company. To speed up the procedure, the Generalitat homologates several companies that must meet the requirements set by the CEO itself through a framework agreement. And it has been precisely the renewal of this agreement that has delayed the procedure, explain from the institute.

The previous framework agreement was signed in 2021, still with Jordi Argelaguet as director of the Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió, with a duration of two years plus a one-year extension, which caused it to expire in September 2024. It was precisely then that the current director, Joan Rodríguez Teruel, took office. "When I arrived, we had some inherited obligations that we were able to move forward with," he indicates in conversation with ARA. In fact, during 2025 the three barometers and other studies were awarded within the planned timeframe because the previous director, Jordi Muñoz, had left them contracted to facilitate the transition.

However, in the renewal of the framework agreement, Teruel explains that no progress had been made and that it was not until the spring of 2025 that it began to become an urgency. The preparation of the tender document falls to a single civil servant assigned to the CEO and the new framework agreement required "significant changes in some criteria and types of surveys," points out Teruel. For example, there has now been more emphasis on online surveys, although the barometers continue to be conducted in person. At the end of November last year, the tender announcement was made and at the beginning of December the period for companies to submit their bids opened. The procedure concluded in March. "We quickly got to work on contracting the barometers," emphasizes Teruel, who preferred to wait until the new agreement was finalized before opening a specific tender to be able to publish the first barometer on time. At all times, he stresses, the entity's governing council, where the Government and all parliamentary groups are represented, was kept informed.

In July, then, the first barometer of this year will be published and the other two are scheduled for the last quarter. It is not, however, the only time there have been problems with the tender for surveys. In 2021, no barometer was carried out: there were problems when the framework agreement was challenged by some of the companies competing in the tender.

The approved companies

Among the companies that have achieved Generalitat homologation, there are some that usually work with the CEO, such as Opinòmetre, Sigmados and Gesop (the latter, in fact, is the one in charge of the first barometer of the year). Others have also passed the cut, such as PSYMA, Instituto DYM and Análisis e Investigación, the latter based in Madrid. All of them meet the requirements for collecting data in person. Regarding telephone surveys, Gaps, Opexlean and the UTE Fdw_Grup Mdk have also been homologated. And Odec, More Than Research, Gabinet Ceres, Netquest and Yougov have also been added to the online panel.

"Some are melons to be opened," acknowledges Teruel. Being homologated means that the CEO can hire them more easily, but it does not guarantee any assignment. On the other hand, the institute will see an increase in the funding it receives from the Generalitat once the budgets are approved. It will go from the 1.6 million euros it has maintained more or less unchanged for some years to 2.1 million (+30%). Thanks to the new resources, the CEO has already initiated several contracting processes: since 2010 it has not increased its staff of 13 people, but this year it will add four new positions, one in the services area (to reinforce bureaucratic management and contracting processes) and three in the studies area.