Many young people may not be aware of the shocking scenes at the beginning of Supermana film released in 1978 in which the legendary actor Marlon Brando had a brief and highly paid appearance: Jor-El, his character, unsuccessfully warned that the planet their civilization lived on, Krypton, was about to disappear. In the moments before the final explosion, she managed to get her son into a pod to escape the disaster. And so Superman came to Earth.
With the logical planetary distances, it does not stop being the scenario that lives Ciutadans at Barcelona City Hall. Electoral expectations are rather negative, the municipal group has broken with the party. The president of the group, Paco Sierra, has been expelled from Ciutadans, which, however, has not been able to prevent the mayor from continuing to represent his brand in the city council. It is easy to venture the crumble.
judicial front
Sierra will request court next week the restitution as a militant of CiutadansY very precautionary measures to participate in the assembly that the party will hold on January 14. He is totally opposed to the leadership of Ciutadans in Catalonia and in fact considers that the problems began when Carlos Carrizosa he became the helmsman of the formation.
Secondly, Anna Grau, deputy in Parliament, has taken a step forward to be the mayor of Ciutadans next May. She has made it a condition that primaries be held. “They are not mandatory but they are imperative & rdquor ;, she says. They are not compulsory because the party does not have more than 400 militants in the city. For now, Grau has no rival. The process will culminate on February 19 with the designation of the candidate.
As for Luz Guilarte, who was president of the group until Sierra and another councilor, Noemí Martín, removed her from office in October, she has passed away: she has abandoned politics to return to her previous working life. With the mutiny as the justification, she is the one who got into Jor-El’s pod to escape the disaster.
Vall’s list
There are those who cling to saving the planet, and although there are many who, like Marlon Brando, warn of disaster, some optimists remain. In the case of Citizens, the one who had a brief appearance (and it is said that it was paid quite well) was Manuel Vallshead of the list presented in 2019.
The former French Prime Minister closed an agreement with the then leader of Ciudadanos, Albert Riveraand with the support of part of the wealthiest sectors of Barcelona, he formed a candidacy that he called Barcelona pel Canvi: Ciutadans completed the name and provided electoral rights.
With the financial support of the elites, Valls set out to remove Ada Colau from the mayor’s office. But he failed: he only obtained six ediles, one more than the Ciutadans had in the previous mandate. Like Krypton, although not as quickly, the planet of the anti-nationalist list began to fall apart immediately: Valls’s decision to make Colau mayor so that the winner of the elections, Ernest Maragall, would not be, divided the candidacy.
Ciutadans was left with four councilors and Barcelona pel Canvi, with two, Valls himself and Eva Parera. Later, Marilén Barceló left Ciutadans with only three representatives, when she became non-attached, although she unofficially aligned herself with Parera.
29 people
29 people work in the Ciutadans municipal group, including councillors, advisors and staff with other functions. They haven’t been very good weeks. Before the last municipal plenary session, on December 23, there was speculation until the last moment about the possibility that Sierra would have to sit in the seats at the top of Carles Pi i Sunyer’s hall as a non-attached mayor. But it was not like that.
“Beyond my condition or not as a member, I am the president of the municipal group and I will be until May no matter what,” says Sierra. He has no intention of running in the primaries. He also denies that he is considering signing for Valents, the PP or Vox, as he has been accused of agreeing to. At most, he says, he would go on the Ciutadans list in a symbolic position. But his decision is clear: “In May I go to my (lawyer’s) office and close my municipal stage& rdquor ;.
a whatsapp group
Regarding the leadership headed by Carrizosa, he affirms that he has tried, even creating a WhatsApp group with them, to approach his two groupmates, Noemí Martín and Julia Barea (who replaced Guilarte) so that they support Sierra leaving the presidency, but without success. Both, by the way, support Edmundo Bal in his fight for the direction of Ciudadanos. Pointing to Carrizosa as responsible, Sierra stresses that Ciutadans only has a little more than 200 affiliates in the Catalan capital. “In some groups there were 200 militants and now there are six or seven left & rdquor ;, he stresses.
Although he pointed out the risk of the disappearance of Ciutadans in the city council as a driver of the changes he forced on the group, he believes that there are options to avoid it: “We are not far, we need a little push & rdquor;. And he does not see Grau as a candidate badly, but it is not easy to imagine him campaigning with her in view of her confrontation with her leadership.
orphans
Grau also sees orphans in the Ciudadanos space, although she does not subscribe to the attacks on the leadership. “I want to be very prudent on this issue, I want to be the candidate of all, also of those who feel orphaned,” says the deputy for Ciutadans in Parliament about the conflict in the municipal group.
She is not intimidated by the fact that the poor results of Ciutadans in the municipal elections are taken for granted: “I am a dedicated and brave person, but not a total masochist. If I take the step it is because I believe in the project & rdquor ;, she declares. Unlike Sierra, who reports that he retains “a beautiful friendship with Valls & rdquor ;, Grau has a rather terrible memory of his short journey through municipal politics.
He describes it as “betrayal & rdquor; the role of Valls in the re-election of Colau, and the first objective is to erase “the terrible effects & rdquor; of the passage of the former French prime minister through the town hall. As for the problems of the city, he asks to avoid sensationalism and go to the concrete before those who make fuss but end up supporting Colau as partners, like the PSC, or from outside the government, like the ERC: “The ‘superilles’ are reversed and that’s it.”
In his opinion, the people of Barcelona face suffocating taxation with few results: “My manager began to cry when I told him that I was returning from Madrid to Barcelona. Many taxes are paid in exchange for very fair social services. I don’t understand seeing rats on the street with the taxes that are paid. It’s not like they broke into my house. All of this is the fault of a Bolivarian government and of those who laugh at it for thanks.”
The polls
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Regarding the polls, he maintains that some are done without including the option of Citizens so that voters cannot quote it. He rejects the role of the PP, “a party that abandoned Catalonia even before the Majestic pact (the stable alliance between José María Aznar and Jordi Pujol). And as for Eva Parera, the leader of Valents, she is not shy: “She bores me supremely. It doesn’t take up any space in my worries. She is a worthy heiress of Duran Lleida and the Catalan lobi & rdquor ;.
“I want to represent a space of political decency, not just constitutionalist& rdquor;, argues Grau, who will not leave the Catalan Chamber unless they are prevented by municipal management tasks: “I will continue as a deputy in Parliament, although if I am mayor or deputy mayor I will have to see how I combine it & rdquor;.