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🇪🇸 Spain /Elections & Politics

Barcelona City Hall Becomes a Talent Pool for Putting Out Fires in the Catalan Government

From El País · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Marta Clari’s appointment as secretary general of Catalonia’s Education Department continues a pattern of senior Barcelona City Hall officials joining the regional government.
  • Several transfers have coincided with crises in areas such as education, including problems linked to PISA results, teacher disputes, strikes and inadequate classrooms.
  • The moves began prominently after Salvador Illa, a former city government figure, formed his regional administration in 2024 and recruited several close municipal colleagues.

Marta Clari’s appointment as secretary general of Catalonia’s Education Department is the latest example of Barcelona City Hall serving as a recruitment ground for Salvador Illa’s government. The transfers often come when a regional department faces a crisis or before it assumes new responsibilities.

She can act quickly on immediate problems, think long term, and connect exceptionally well with very different people.

· Unnamed municipal professionalThe official described Marta Clari’s management style and ability to work across complex public institutions.

Clari has worked as a city official since 1990. She has led Barcelona’s Culture Institute, Libraries Institute, Education area and, most recently, Social Rights, serving under municipal governments of three different political colors: the PSC, CiU and Comuns. Colleagues describe her as decisive, calm and willing to engage in dialogue. Her experience includes handling everything from deciding whether rain should cancel the Three Kings parade to setting up hospitals in sports halls during the pandemic.

“She can act quickly on immediate problems, think long term, and connect exceptionally well with very different people,” said a municipal professional with many years of service. Catalan government spokeswoman Sílvia Paneque acknowledged that the administration had sought someone closely tied to the management of complex public structures.

Decisive

· People in Marta Clari’s professional circleThey used the term to describe Clari’s approach to unexpected problems.

Education faces a crowded agenda beyond the broader debate over its model. The department is dealing with the PISA fiasco, a school year threatened by strikes, classrooms that have spent years in prefabricated buildings, and the challenge of inclusive education.

dialogue-oriented and calm

· People in Marta Clari’s professional circleThey also described Clari’s personal and managerial style.

The recruitment of municipal executives began on a large scale after Illa formed his government in summer 2024. Illa had previously served for years as coordinator of the municipal socialist group. He appointed the city’s then-manager, Albert Dalmau, as regional minister for the presidency, a move that shook Mayor Jaume Collboni’s administration. Dalmau subsequently brought several close colleagues across Sant Jaume square, including Mari Carmen Fernández González, his former right-hand figure, and three key members of the municipal press team. Another major transfer involved Antoni Fernández, a veteran city official who moved from managing the Economy and Economic Promotion area to become Catalonia’s secretary of finance.

A profile closely linked to the management of complex public structures has been sought.

· Sílvia PanequeThe Catalan government spokeswoman explained the reasoning behind Clari’s appointment.
About this summary

Originally published by El País in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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