With just under 17,000 inhabitants, Berga is the largest municipality in Catalonia governed by the CUP and the only county capital. In 2019, Montse Venturós won the elections and revalidated his position. But in July 2021, in the middle of her term and when the light began to be seen after the pandemic, the mayor resigned due to depression.
Montse Venturós has been the mayor of Berga since 2015 and her activism and her fight against State repression, which placed her on the political front line. She was the first Catalan political leader to be sentenced in the framework of the independence process for not having removed the flag from the City Council in two electoral periods.
In March 2019, he had already completed his 6-month disqualification sentence and, for this reason, he re-presented himself as the head of the list for the CUP. He then swept the elections, bordering on an absolute majority. But in March 2021 he left office due to depression. His resignation served to denounce the stigma suffered by people with mental disorders.
Ivan Sánchez replaced the mayoress and has been the mayor ever since. However, he now faces, for the first time, an election as the head of the list and will have to show that he has won the approval of the electorate. The CUP has 8 councilors and governs in coalition with the ERC, which has 2.
The CUP is running for the elections on May 28 with a highly renewed candidacy and exhibiting solvency in economic management.
The anti-capitalist formation has managed to reduce the municipal debt, which has gone from 20 million euros in 2015, in the CiU mandate, to the current 6 million.
In recent years, Berga has turned its back on its old neighborhood. New construction has been prioritized on the outskirts of the city and this neighborhood has been abandoned. Added to the poor condition of the houses is the commercial crisis, which has left many empty premises on Calle Major, one of the main arteries of the city. The City Council has begun to get down to work and has agreed with the Government on a new aid package for the neighborhood plan for 2024.
In addition, it has approved two works that want to transform this situation. On the one hand, demolishing the Finques Ciutat house, on Calle Major, which will make it possible to create a new access to Plaza del Forn, in the heart of the city. In addition, the demolition of Harmonia street is also being considered, at the top of the barri vell, where there is also a cooperative project to build 14 floors on the Cal Blanxart estate.
Added to the deteriorating situation of the neighborhood is the fact that there is no garbage collection service, which is managed by the Berguedà Regional Council. The door-to-door system has increased the rate of selective collection, but dirtiness has increased due to the attitude of the uncivil who leave the garbage where it does not belong and which is accentuated in the barri vell.
In 2015, Unesco declared the Patum Immaterial Cultural Heritage of Humanity, but the lack of funding has always been a drag. In 2022, the Government announced a collaboration agreement to subsidize the party with a minimum annual economic contribution of 100,000 euros. In addition, he left the door open to be able to increase this figure. In fact, this year they will put more money: about 125,000 euros more.
Until 2021, the contributions were smaller and varied depending on the year because the Patum had to compete with other popular festivities to attract funds. At most, 30,000 euros were invested.
On the other hand, the municipal government has not been able to move forward with its project for the Patum museum. He has taken out of the drawer the project from the CiU era, which included a museum in the same Plaza de Sant Pere, taking advantage of the Ateneu and Hospital Vell buildings. The City Council relied on help from Next Generation funds, but in the end it has not arrived and it will have to look for other financing measures.
Junts arrives at the elections on May 28 with Professor Ramón Caballé as a candidate and a very renewed list. For its part, ERC, the CUP’s partner in this term, presents the current mayor of Saldes, Moisès Masanas, as a candidate for the elections. Despite having been mayor of that municipality, located at the foot of Pedraforca, for 8 years, Masanas lives in Berga.
The PSC, on the other hand, repeats the head of the list. It will be Abel Garcia, current vice president of the Berguedà Regional Council and alderman of Berga for 4 years. In addition, En Comú Podem and Berga Grup Independent, headed by a former Junts militant, are presenting a candidacy.