Vox names its Barcelona slate

On Wednesday, 21 October, Vox announced that Juan José Aizcorbe will again head its list for Barcelona in the general election on 29 November, the same position he held in 2023. Carina Mejías follows in second place, and the party's national manager, the economist Ignacio Fontcuberta, is third. Rosario Mesas, José Antonio Gilabert and Júlia Calvet, a deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia and a member of the national executive committee, fill the next places, with Andrés Bello, another Vox member of the Catalan chamber, after her. Aizcorbe, a lawyer who sat in Congress for two legislatures, is the party's spokesman on the Labour, Inclusion, Social Security and Migration committee. Vox won two seats in Barcelona in 2023, the only Catalan province where it gained representation, and surveys now point to growth as it contests third place with Junts.

In the party's statement, Aizcorbe said Vox would denounce the migration policies of the PSC, Junts, ERC and the Comuns, which it blames for worsening security and public services.

“On 29-N we will present an alternative to end the situation in the province of Barcelona.”

Aizcorbe also called on the party's supporters to mobilise and said Vox would tour every corner of the province with a programme built on national priority, remigration and housing construction.

Albiol calls for a rethink of Catalan use

Xavier García Albiol, mayor of Badalona and the PP candidate for Barcelona, called for a general rethink of how Catalan is used, arguing that the language is losing ground in the street. In an interview with La 2Cat and Ràdio 4, he said Catalan administrations have never spent so much on promoting the language, yet the evidence shows that less Catalan is spoken every day.

“Catalan administrations have never poured so much money into promoting Catalan, yet the evidence shows that less Catalan is spoken every day.”

Albiol said Castilian is guaranteed in the big cities but that the interior of Catalonia may face difficulties in learning it. Asked whether Junts could back a PP investiture after 29 November, he said that looked 'very complicated', accusing Carles Puigdemont's party of a radicalised national position. He also said he does not disagree with Alberto Núñez Feijóo on immersion, while arguing that the aim should be more Catalan spoken on the street. Feijóo's programme promises to end compulsory immersion so that 50% of subjects can be taught in Spanish. Courts have already ruled the immersion model illegal, and a Constitutional Court ruling is awaited on whether schools must teach 25% of core subjects in Castilian, after the Supreme Court ordered it and the Generalitat refused to comply.

Bilingual groups push back

The Asamblea per una Escola Bilingüe (AEB) asked Albiol whether he would defend bilingual schooling in Catalonia, saying it had not yet seen him defend a school teaching in both Catalan and Castilian. Its president, Ana Losada, wrote on social media that hearing the PP candidate say on a broadcast interview that teaching in Castilian is guaranteed in Catalonia was astonishing, outrageous and disappointing. She added that his claim echoes what nationalists say, namely that studying in Castilian is not possible in Catalonia.

Wider campaign context

In a separate interview, Albiol accused Pedro Sánchez of putting his own interests above those of his party, saying the prime minister does as he pleases. He cited the Palencia Socialist list, where party members' proposed candidates stepped down after Sánchez imposed Mariluz Martínez Seijo as head of the list. Albiol also backed Feijóo seeking a formula of cooperation with Vox on shared objectives, without giving up the PP's identity, and defended what he calls 'positive immigration' as a campaign priority.