Ripoll councillors resign amid reproaches to the PSC and warn that no one wants to replace them

BarcelonaEnrique Pérez and Anna Belén Avilés are no longer representatives of the PSC in the Ripoll City Council. The two councilors resigned on Monday after the party censured them for abstaining from the budget vote and allowing Alianza Catalana to approve them. Their resignation, however, has opened an unprecedented crisis in the PSC of Ripoll. The two councilors are leaving amidst reproaches to the leadership and warn that no one from the candidacy wants to replace them because they disagree with the decision to oust them.

"We want to state that the local branch does not share this decision in any case; moreover, it is in absolute disagreement. There is no member of the list who has shown any willingness to take over from our councilors. This is a decision adopted unilaterally by the national leadership of the Catalan Socialist Party," say the two former councilors in a joint statement.

The two councilors even deny that they met with the leadership on Monday to agree on their departure, despite the party insisting that there was a telematic meeting with the Girona federation: "No meeting was held yesterday afternoon, nor, at the time we became aware of this decision through the media, had any formal communication been made to us in this regard," say the two councilors, who assure that they have stepped aside out of "responsibility." In a statement sent this Tuesday, the party emphasized that their two representatives were ceasing "their institutional responsibilities" after "the meeting held yesterday afternoon between representatives of the National Executive, the Federation of Girona counties, and the municipal group."

During the budget debate, Pérez justified the abstention with the argument of avoiding a new vote of confidence, which would have ended in the umpteenth failure to oust Sílvia Orriols from the mayoralty due to the lack of agreement among the opposition forces. The day after the approval of the accounts, the Girona federation distanced itself from the decision made by the municipal group and made it clear that they had not endorsed it nor did they know anything about it. After being called in for consultations, the two councilors acknowledged "the mistake" that the abstention in the City Council's budget debate represented and put their positions at the party's disposal. It was, therefore, the chronicle of a death foretold. 

In the statement, the PSC indicates that "two other party colleagues will assume the councilor positions," without specifying if they will be the next on the list, that is, numbers 3 and 4, although the two former councilors warn that the rest of the candidates do not intend to take the step. The fact is that the socialists of Ripoll thus lose two of their pillars. In fact, Pérez intended to run again as a candidate. He would have been the only one of Sílvia Orriols' rivals to repeat, as the candidates for mayor from Junts, ERC, and the CUP will be new, and in fact, some of the former ones have been withdrawing during the term.

Mayor in the last elections, Pérez also was in 2007, at only 27 years old, and in 2011, and has been a councilor for fifteen years, in addition to regional president for four years. His extensive experience has led the Minister of Territory, the also Gerona-born Sílvia Paneque, whom he knows well and whose value he knows, to hire him as an advisor for institutional action, a position he has also left, as reported in the statement.

In any case, his departure will mean that the PSC will have to look for a new candidate with just under a year to go until the elections. Pérez's party colleague was also not new to politics. Anna Belén Avilés was the leader and spokesperson for the socialists in the City Council in both 2015 and 2019 and was one of the most recognizable faces of socialism in the region, beyond Pérez. The resignation of the two socialist councilors leaves the municipal executive shaken, and even more so if the predictions of the two former councilors come true, and they will have to scramble to put together a new list for next year.

This was warned by Orriols, who was quick to react to the PSC's decision: "In the crusade against Aliança Catalana, the PSC has decided to decapitate even its own," he said. "Perhaps these dismissals interest you to maintain the narrative in Parliament, but in Ripoll you have made a fool of yourselves and I will be interested to see how you manage to form a list in the next municipal elections," he added in a message on the social network X. Subsequently, Orriols also attributed the PSC's decision to dismiss the two councilors "for a simple abstention" to the fear of the party leader and president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, of Aliança's growth.