The region where Junts wants more Civil Guard

BarcelonaRegional demands don't always conform to political party guidelines. A paradigmatic example has just occurred in the Pyrenees. The La Cerdanya Regional Council, with a Junts majority, has approved a motion calling on the Ministry of the Interior to strengthen the presence of the Civil Guard in the areas it manages, especially in the prevention of criminal activity and the protection of the natural environment.

This request comes after Carles Puigdemont's party closed two months ago. an agreement with the PSOE –pending validation in Congress due to Podemos's rejection– to allow the Mossos d'Esquadra to have a presence at the border and be able to expel illegally arriving foreigners. wants the Generalitat to have the power to expel anyone who arrives illegally.

The County Council's motion was approved with only one abstention, that of ERC for Isòvol minister Andreu Ripoll. The Mayors' Committee had already approved the same text, in this case unanimously by all seventeen mayors.

The mayors' concerns stem from two main reasons. On the one hand, the abolition of the Seprona (Nature Protection Service), which must be assumed by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) and the Rural Agents (Agents Rurales) following the agreements between the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and the pro-independence forces. And on the other, the elimination of weapons intervention units, which could lead, as the text emphasizes, to a "loss of control" over the possession and use of weapons and explosives.

The mayor of Prullans, Albert Maurell, stated in an interview with ARA that the issue of weapons was fundamental in promoting the motion. "If the Puigcerdà unit is dismantled, to carry out controls on the possession and inspection of weapons or explosives, the eleven municipalities that belong to Girona will have to travel to Ripoll," explains the mayor, who adds that hunting associations are asking them to be able to continue doing so in the Cerete capital. "It's a thorny issue," Maurell admits, but emphasizes that it doesn't seem like "the Mossos d'Esquadra will have to manage these powers in the short or medium term."

The initiative has been led by the president of the Regional Council, Isidre Chia, who declined to speak to the ARA (Argentine National Assembly). The mayor of Bolvir met weeks earlier with the Civil Guard association, Jucil, and with the government subdelegates in Lleida and Girona to demand that the services offered by the Spanish force not be lost. This was confirmed by the ERC spokesperson in the Consell, Àngel Llobell. "He presented the motion and it wasn't on the agenda; we didn't intervene at all," explains the Puigcerdà councilor, who doesn't hide the fact that he finds it "curious" considering the positions defended by the Junts leadership.

Llobell admits his party's discomfort with the motion: "We wanted to abstain because we believe these powers should be transferred to the Generalitat, but since the Council of Mayors approved it unanimously, we gave them a free vote so as not to contradict our mayors by voting against it." The councilor for Puigcerdà also admits that the region has certain "needs" and that certain "services" must be provided to the population, but emphasizes that the initiative was proposed by Chia in which ERC did not intervene. In any case, Llobell downplays the motion: "It's a position, but it has no significance whatsoever."

The Junts leadership supports the Cerdanya motion out of necessity in a territory with a large number of hunters and two quarries where explosives are used. "Until the transfer is made, these services must be provided," party sources explain, noting that the Mossos d'Esquadra cannot do so at the moment.