Esquerra presents its manifesto as its guideline for candidates all over the country

Living, fair and green municipalities. That is the horizon set by Esquerra Republicana for local policy in its Framework Programme training for the 2023 municipal elections, presented nationally on Sunday in Vilafranca del Penedès once the territorial presentations had been held over the last few weeks. The Framework Programme has been drawn up in a participatory process through which a broad representation of the local world has taken part, with gender parity and the presence of all the territories in the Catalan Countries, all the sectors of the party, and the members of many municipal groups.

The 160-page document details the public policies that Esquerra defends in all fields, with regard to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Esquerra Republicana places the municipalities at the forefront of the republican feminist, ecological, social and democratic transformation the party defends. “We are here to do things differently, to transform the country after forty years with an outdated model. A model that has often been characterized by the absence of a clear project or by short-term vision, governing for the benefit of the few, managing opaquely and with city models dividing the centre and suburbs,” states the draft.

The Framework Programme defines Esquerra Republicana as “a useful tool at the service of the country” and as a “municipally based” party. Indeed, the last local elections in 2019 made Esquerra the leading municipal force in Catalonia, obtaining the majority in votes and in councillors. For 2023, the party is setting its major goal of continuing to grow in the metropolitan areas in order to strengthen the independence project throughout the country.

Among the hundreds of public policy proposals gathered in the document, those aimed at social justice stand out: encouraging decent employment, preserving the right to housing and assuring universal and quality public education. That also means the promotion of green spaces and healthy neighbourhoods, towns and cities, with a transformational economy at the service of the people and a determined commitment to a social and solidarity economy. Another of the party’s commitments is to empowering citizens through direct dialogue with their municipal governments, with participation that is not restricted just to participatory budgets, a party that is uncompromising in the face of corruption, with transparency its banner.

The candidates standing throughout the country will draw up their election manifestos based on this draft, to ensure equal access to culture and sports practice, sustainable mobility within towns and cities and also between municipalities, the fight against income inequality, digital deployment, and the democratization of energy, the promotion of a financially, socially and environmentally sustainable economy, and the commitment to an agile and effective administration near at hand, just some of the policies detailed in the Framework Programme.

The presentation was attended by the Deputy Secretary General and spokeswoman for Esquerra Republicana, Marta Vilalta; the Minister for Foreign Action and the European Union, Meritxell Serret; the Deputy Secretary General for Political and Sector Action, Sara Bailac; the Secretary for Municipal Policy and Transversal Projects, Alba Camps; and the candidate for Vilafranca del Penedès mayor, Pere Sàbat.