Xavier Trias and Manuel Valls join forces against anti-Semitism

BarcelonaFormer Barcelona mayor Xavier Trias and former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls have joined forces on a single platform, chaired by Valls, who also briefly served as a Barcelona city councilor, and featuring another political figure, Socialist Senator Gabriel Colomé. This new entity, Emet Verdad, aims to combat antisemitism in Catalonia and has marked Valls's reappearance in the public eye months after leaving French politics in a recent government reshuffle that saw him ousted from the Ministry of Overseas Territories. Trias also stepped back from frontline politics after Jaume Collboni ousted him from the mayoralty through a coalition with the People's Party (PP) and the Comuns party, but he has since become... president of the advisory council of former mayors of Junts and has participating in the political debate Despite being retired.

This foundation, with such diverse personalities but under Valls' leadership, is being promoted "to fight against antisemitism and other forms of hatred." It was founded by the Jewish Community of Barcelona and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, key entities for the Jewish community. Its founding objective is "to combat hatred of Jews" directed at "Jewish and non-Jewish people or their property, Jewish community institutions, and places of worship." It aims to act against antisemitic "historical revisionism," while centralizing and analyzing antisemitic incidents in Catalonia, assisting in the implementation of policies against this scourge, and contributing to the memory of the Jewish people. It also intends to combat the "defamation" of the Jewish people and maintain bridges between government bodies. It is important to remember that The Israeli government has repeatedly accused Pedro Sánchez's Spanish government of promoting "anti-Semitism". for his stance against the genocide of the Palestinian people perpetrated by the Israeli army.

According to sources consulted, Trias has always had a "close relationship" with the Jewish community of Barcelona, ​​and a few weeks ago they asked him to collaborate with this new foundation to achieve "better coexistence." From the outset, he knew that Valls and Colomé, politicians of different political leanings, would be involved.

Valls, the architect of the operation against Catalan independence to make Ada Colau mayor and block Ernest Maragall's path in 2019, has a brief history in the Barcelona City Council—he even broke with Ciudadanos and sowed the seeds of a failed party—a strategy that was copied by the Popular Party's Daniel Sirera to prevent Trias from becoming mayor in 2023, with Colau's collaboration. Colomé, known for his anti-independence stance, advised former minister Josep Borrell and served as a Barcelona city councilor during Trias's term as mayor, as well as director of the Center for Opinion Studies appointed by the tripartite coalition government between 2005 and 2011.