Depopulated Catalonia flexes muscle with pressure groups similar to Emptied Spain

They speak with a restraint, civility and constructive spirit that is rarely heard among the top politicians who skin each other daily on the news. But they are ‘hot’ and tired of accepting sterile promises. It is not explained in any other way than more than half of the Catalan mayors have put aside their ideological differences to try to save their evanescent world: rural Catalonia devoured by depopulation and the indifference of the institutions. At the moment, they have no plans to join the project of Spain Emptied or create your own brand for defend their interests at the polls. They have preferred to organize themselves as pressure groupsalso called lobis. But they do not close the door to anything. Everything will depend on the institutional response they receive to their demands.

As in other regions of Spain, Catalonia also has a rural world aged and in regression due to the lack of services, economic opportunities and regulations that protect their interests. According to a study by the University of Lleida, 200 of the 947 Catalan municipalitiess go through a critical situation of depopulationthe vast majority of them, towns with less than 500 inhabitants. But they are not the only ones who continue to lose weight without remission. Idescat estimates suggest that 354 municipalities will lose population during the next decade. Nothing too new on the horizon. The difference now is that the rural world seems ready to rebel against its destiny.

“There is a serious problem, we are less and less”, he says Joaquim Paladella (PSC), mayor of Bat, a town that does not reach 2,000 inhabitants despite being the largest grape producer in Catalonia. “In this Terra Alta region all towns, without exception, lose population. If we continue at this rate, some could be completely emptied in one or two generations”. It was that same logic that led four mayors last summer to take the first step to organize against demographic bleeding. They created a working group, articulated through WhatsApp and various meetings, which has mutated into a platform with demands and solutions aimed at institutions. Rural Repopulation Einesthey call themselves and, seven months later, they add up 504 municipalities. Or what is the same, near the 90% of towns with less than 2,000 inhabitantsthe 63% of the Catalan territory.

Mayors of all political colors

The most extraordinary thing is that they have known how to transcend the issue that has engulfed Catalan life in the last decade: the independence debate. In their ranks there sovereignist and unionist mayors, from the right and from the left. councilors attached to together Y leftbut also to PSC and even the only Catalan mayor of the PP. “We are not a municipal entity because they are all politicized, but a fully cross group with people of all political stripes. We do not want partisan interference of any kind & rdquor ;, affirms the coordinator of Eines, james gilbert (ERC), mayor of Montgai and former president of the Diputación de Lleida.

The platform embraces the same transversal philosophy as the Emptied Spain, with which it shares the substance of its claims, but it has not emerged from civil society but from the elected officials of the most emptied regions of Catalonia. And he has chosen register as a pressure group with the Generalitat to have direct access to those who write the laws in Madrid and Barcelona. “We have not considered the accession to Spain Empty wave creation of a political party because we trust that the Generalitat will attend to our requests, as it has already begun to do & rdquor ;, says Gilabert. “But if the administrations ignore the rural world again, we’ll see what happens then”.

Contacts with Spain Empty

This potential adhesion it is not ruled out for an identity issue, but for purely strategic reasons. “The name is the least of it, it could always be articulated under another brand. But today it is not on the table because we are convinced that the Government will act”, assure sources from Eines. Something different is the position of Rural Countryanother pressure group born in July 2020 to defend the legislative interests of small townspromote the territorial balance Y decentralize the institutions of the Generalitat, concentrated in Barcelona. Presided over by Josep Maria Vila d’Abadalwho was mayor of Vic and president of the Association of Municipalities for Independencecurrently has some 120 memberswhich include companies, associations, municipalities and individuals.

Your president has had direct contacts with the emptied Spain, but the Rural Country board has rejected any type of adhesion to prevent some municipalities from distancing themselves from their project. “Now we are very small, but Later on, entry into your assembly could be considered. to collaborate in all issues that are decided in the European Union and the State and they affect the rural world”, says Vila d’Abadal. In Catalonia, in any case, the caution against the electoral path adopted by Spain Emptied in Castilla y León after the success at the polls in Teruel Exists.

“The danger that this option has is that someone keeps it. The Spanish right is trying to keep the movement. It would be a mistake because it has to be transversal & rdquor ;, adds the president of Rural Country. What is clear is that the new Catalan pressure groups want “immediate” answers to promote repopulation. They are tired of waiting and being told “no to everything.” In the case of Eines, the most powerful group of the two, its priority goes through the approval in Parliament of a Rural Municipality Statute that serves to guarantee that the laws do not trample on the particularities and needs of the towns of less than 2,000 inhabitants, 62% of the Catalan municipalities. “The current reality is that whenever a law or regulation is made, it harms the rural world. We are the custodians of the territory, but we are never taken into account & rdquor ;, says Gilabert.

lack of political courage

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Its long list of demands affects all areas of public life, from the town planning to educationthe health wave economy. “In Catalonia we always fill our mouths saying that we are the best and the former, but on the subject of rural repopulation It is not the case & rdquor ;, he assures joan eroles (Junts), mayor of Puigvert d’Agramunt –a town of 240 inhabitants in the region of Urgell– and member of Eines. “Regions like Castilla la Mancha and the Basque Country they already have a Rural Municipality Statute. Political courage is lacking hereboth in the towns and in the Generalitat”.

There is no doubt that the rise of both movements is a kind of sword of Damocles for political parties Catalans. Particularly for the independence movement, which reigns in rural Catalonia. “Our movement makes the parties uncomfortable because it makes it more difficult for them to control the territory & rdquor ;, says Eroles referring to Eines. “They are aware that could lose weight inside if one day we decided to stand for election & rdquor ;. Neither Eines nor País Rural are there yet, but the pulse has only just begun.