Esquerra Republicana insists on "recovering" the El Bruc military barracks because "it is a state kidnapping" of Barcelona

“The El Bruc barracks is an offense and a kidnapping of the State in Barcelona”. The Esquerra Republicana candidate for mayor of the Catalan capital, Ernest Maragall, has once again claimed today, in this way, “the recovery of the land” where the Army barracks are located, which function as the base of the Barcelona Infantry Regiment number 63.

In an act of the campaign for the municipal elections next Sunday, Maragall has opted to build “new equipment and housing” in the area where the military equipment is located.

On March 29, the Senate rejected an ERC initiative that asked the Government to transfer the El Bruc barracks to the Barcelona City Council so that it could be used for other uses.

The Republicans only had the support of EH Bildu, PNV and Junts per Catalunya, which was insufficient given the vote against by PSOE, PP, Vox and Ciudadanos.

In her statement of reasons in the Upper House, the senator from Esquerra Mirella Cortès indicated that “the location of El Bruc in the middle of the urban fabric of Barcelona has no geostrategic justification, beyond the symbolism of the presence of the Spanish Army in the streets of the city.”

Two months earlier, the Commission for the Presidency of the Barcelona City Council had approved an ERC proposal to demand that the Government hand over the barracks, located in the Pedralbes neighborhood, in order to “allocate the land to other uses and needs of the citizenry”.. The petition was approved with the support of Barcelona en Comú and Junts, while PSC, Ciudadanos, PP and Valents voted against.

Recently, the Barcelona military barracks made headlines for the alleged lottery of a prostitute by a group of soldiers last Christmas. Last March, the Investigating Court number 30 of Barcelona filed “for lack of crime” the complaint presented by the commanders of the barracks. The investigation concluded that a Christmas basket was raffled off and not an appointment with a prostitute.

trias and 3%

Maragall, winner of the 2019 elections and whom most polls now place in fourth place, has charged against his rival in the independence camp for 28-M, Xavier Trias (Junts). “What Trias tells us is that he wants to recover the Convergence of 3%. It is what it represents and it is what Barcelona should not admit, neither alone nor jointly with Jaume Collboni (PSC)”, he pointed out in reference to a hypothetical pact between post-convergents and socialists after 28-M.