Pilar Calvo enters Junts's primaries and shakes up the race for Barcelona

Calvo’s entry does not come out of nowhere. Junts’ leadership has for months been looking for a profile capable of competing in Barcelona without reopening too many internal wounds, but the process has become increasingly tangled. Martí Galbis, backed by Xavier Trias, wants to make his work on the city council count; the party leadership, however, does not seem entirely convinced that he is the name best able to connect with Barcelona voters.

Calvo brings a different kind of profile. A journalist, member of Congress since 2021 and president of Junts’ national council, she had already chaired the party’s Barcelona federation before moving to Madrid. Her candidacy is interpreted as a bet with greater organisational and media weight than other options that had been put forward.

The move has also received significant backing. Lawyer Gonzalo Boye, close to Carles Puigdemont, has publicly supported Calvo, a gesture that is never read as a minor detail in Junts. In a party where the balance between factions, territories and leaderships carries great weight, every endorsement helps show which way the balance may tip.

At the same time, Jaume Giró is stepping away from the race. The former Minister of Economy, who had been invited to consider his candidacy, will not stand and does not intend to support another contender either. According to published information, his distance is related to disagreements over Junts’ current political line, which is, in his view, less focused on the moderate Catalan nationalism he represented.

The list of possible names is not yet entirely closed. Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas and Glòria Freixa continue to appear in the forecasts, while Josep Rius has already ruled himself out to avoid a direct confrontation with Martí Galbis. Junts will formally activate the process to choose its candidate on 1 June, with Barcelona becoming one of the party’s most delicate battlegrounds.

The underlying problem is political, but also urban. Junts won Barcelona’s 2023 municipal elections with Xavier Trias, but was left out of the mayoralty after the agreement that allowed Jaume Collboni to govern. It must now decide whether to back municipal continuity, internal renewal or a profile more closely connected to the national leadership.

Barcelona thus becomes a testing ground for Junts once again. It is not only about choosing a face for an election poster, but defining what the party wants to be in the city: heir to triasismo, Puigdemont’s platform in municipal terms, or a difficult mixture of both. And that decision, more than in speeches, will be seen in the name that ultimately heads the list.