ERC's Rufián skips Pimec debate as Barcelona candidates clash over taxes and housing

The debate and the empty chair

On Monday, 9 November, the business federation Pimec held a debate for Barcelona candidates ahead of the 29 November general election, at the auditorium of the Torre Glòries, beginning at 10:00. Five candidates took part: Jordi Hereu (PSC), Ernest Urtasun (Comuns-Front Ampli), Xavier García Albiol (PP), Miriam Nogueras (Junts) and Juanjo Aizcorbe (Vox). Pimec president Antonio Cañete welcomed attendees and the moderator, journalist Cristina Riba, opened the session. Gabriel Rufián, the ERC candidate, had been listed as a participant but did not attend, so the organisers left his chair empty. ERC offered a substitute from its list, but Pimec declined, and Rufián later said the organisers wanted only the number one candidates. The first part of the debate centred on tax policy, the role of small firms and absenteeism at work.

A dispute over the absence

Pimec says Rufián confirmed his participation on 26 October at 19:27, and that it received word at 7.07 on the morning of 9 November that he would not attend because he was 'indisposed' and 'exhausted'. Rufián rejected that account on X, saying that the organisers' version was false and that the real reason was his party's agenda. He said his party had offered another candidate from the list, and that Pimec turned the offer down because it wanted only the top names. Pimec replied by sharing his post and detailing the earlier correspondence about his attendance. The sequence of communications has become the core of the argument between the two sides.

Rufián summed up his position in a single line on X:

“We could not go because of scheduling problems.”

In his final message he wrote that he was fine and that someone was lying. Pimec, for its part, thanked the other candidates for attending and wished him a speedy recovery.

Income tax and the deflation split

The sharpest divide came on personal income tax (IRPF). Hereu and Urtasun rejected a general cut across all brackets, while Albiol, Nogueras and Aizcorbe pushed for lower taxes. Hereu argued for responsible tax policy and noted that Spain's tax burden sits below the European average. He said he would not join an auction over who offers the largest cut:

“I will not sign up to an auction to see who makes the biggest cut, because I find it unrealistic and a lack of respect.”

Urtasun also ruled out a general deflation but noted that the minimum wage (SMI) is exempt, and said he was open to studying a deflation for the lower brackets only. Nogueras committed to defending deflation, criticised the government for not adopting it, and said Catalonia managing all of its taxes would be non-negotiable for Junts after 29N. Albiol said the answer was not to squeeze employers with higher taxes, and blamed Catalonia's tax pressure for companies relocating to other parts of Spain. Aizcorbe agreed on the need for a tax cut and for careful use of the revenue collected.

Housing and the pitch to small firms

Housing dominated the sharpest exchanges of the debate, according to EL PAÍS. Albiol and Nogueras questioned the protection given to small landlords and rejected the housing model associated with Ada Colau, while Albiol attributed the withdrawal of flats from the rental market to government decrees. Pimec's members, the reporting noted, voiced outright rejection of the government's housing decrees. The debate also framed the audience of the event: El Periódico reported that Catalonia has 240,000 companies officially active, nine in ten of them SMEs. The right offered the business audience lower taxes, while the left offered them a larger voice in drafting laws in Madrid and in Barcelona. Albiol promised a generalised tax cut without naming specific taxes. Hereu lamented that the parties could not agree on a new regional financing model, which was meant to inject almost 4,700 million euros a year into Catalan accounts. The general election is scheduled for 29 November.