On Monday, Miguel Millana; on Tuesday, María José Adsuar; on Wednesday, Eva Montesinos; and so on through the end of July. The local PSOE group in Alicante has decided that in the coming weeks the members of its executive, numbering more than forty people, will be responsible for opening the party’s traditional headquarters on Pintor Gisbert Street whenever a citizen arrives to raise questions or complaints. This move marks another episode in the long-running dispute between the local group, led by veteran Ángel Franco, and the municipal group, headed by spokesperson Ana Barceló.
The party leadership in Alicante says it had to turn to its executive to open the headquarters because the person who had been doing so has found another job, and the municipal group will not lend any of its advisers so they can balance their town hall duties with PSOE responsibilities. In the local group, whose general secretary is Miguel Millana, it is affirmed that this type of collaboration has traditionally occurred and that advisers have previously come from the Diputación or the FVMP as well. By contrast, the faction critical of Franco argues that this decision is another provocation by the former senator and that the party has its own funds, including membership dues, to pay someone to open the venue without relying on the executive to handle this task. They also demand greater transparency from Franco regarding PSOE funds.
“The headquarters must be opened, and we have no other means,” Millana states. “The real drama would be not opening it; this is not about that. The issue is the lack of a proper relationship between the municipal group and the party. We have already conveyed this to the PSPV secretary general in Madrid.” He adds that the municipal group’s decision was unanimously approved by the executive commission and that hiring a person must be authorized from Madrid, as critics insist.
One of the most upsetting aspects is that the schedule for opening the headquarters, extended through late July and with August as a break, was set without considering the institutional or professional responsibilities of those involved. The arrangement includes, among others, regional deputies José Díaz and Marisa Navarro, and councilors Trini Amorós, Victoria Melgosa, Miguel Castelló, and Raúl Ruiz, who is also a provincial deputy. “I think it’s good for everyone to pull together, but I don’t think it’s right that the shifts were arranged without consultation. It’s another sign that everything is being done in a haphazard way,” says Toni Mira-Perceval, a member of the executive.
The conflict between Franco’s control of the local group and Barceló’s municipal team stretches back to the moment when the former minister appeared in Alicante as the socialist candidate in the last municipal elections. One of the incidents exposing the feud was Barceló’s decision to decline signing an agreement to fund the party using the funds received by the municipal group, around 12,000 euros annually.
The PSPV’s Secretary for Organization, Vicent Mascarell, has stepped in to help find a resolution. In fact, he met with both sides last May to better understand the situation. From Morant’s leadership, decisions were postponed until after the European elections, and now the parties can address the matter more directly.