The president of Cs, Inés Arrimadas, intervenes in an act of the refoundation of Cs, this Sunday, in Madrid.FERNANDO ALVARADO (EFE)
It was one of the most discussed unknowns about the new Ciudadanos that must come out of the re-foundation assembly next January: keep the same name or change a brand in frank decline.
Finally, the party plans to propose to the assembly to keep the name but incorporate a "drastic change of image".
The presentation on the new statutes includes that the formation continue to be called Ciudadanos but, at the same time, the technical team that works on the
marketing campaign
defends modifying the abbreviation and launching a new logo.
Among the formulas, it is considered to replace Cs by Cdd.
Also add another color or two to orange, according to sources from the technical group of the re-foundation, the party renewal process that started in June after the Andalusian electoral debacle.
The biggest discussion now focuses on how to define the powers of the leader who comes out of the January primaries: there is no unanimity on the possibility of dividing the leadership into an organic part and a political part.
Known as G-8, the eight Cs leaders who have piloted the re-foundation, finished their work this Tuesday after five months of "listening process."
And he delivered his conclusions to two other groups made up of other Cs leaders, with five members each.
Its mission is to prepare two papers: one on values and the other on statutes.
The securities was presented to the extended executive this Wednesday.
Not so the statute, which has generated many tensions.
Among its most important contents is the section referring to the brand.
After the analysis of the communication strategy and in accordance with the majority opinion obtained from the militancy, the party will continue —if the assembly approves it— under the name of Ciudadanos but with a different logo and abbreviation.
"The vast majority [of the bases] want a change that preserves Ciudadanos," say sources from that decision-making nucleus.
"There will be another color, and even other colors, that will be added to orange," they add.
The tones that the refoundation team has used during these months — ranging from pink to blue — are gaining strength, similar to those of an Italian party with which Cs shares a group in the Eurochamber: Italia Viva.
Anger for bicephaly
Regarding the other major change, that of the leadership model, there is clear disagreement.
According to various sources of the refounding team, its conclusions have never expressly included dividing the organization into a team dedicated to organic issues and another to policies —with a head at the helm of each one and with the guarantee that Inés Arrimadas would continue as a political leader—, as stated in an informal conversation by management sources to journalists from various media on November 14.
“The militancy has not asked us for a bicephaly.
They have asked us for more transversality”, explains a source, who adds that they found out about this proposal through the press.
"It was explained wrong.
A less cesarist model is requested, but not like this.
We didn't want to talk about names either”, agrees another, which ensures that whoever is elected from the primaries scheduled for January 9 and 10 should have both organic and political powers.
A different matter is that the nine congressional deputies, with Arrimadas as spokesperson, continue to maintain the institutional representation that is presumed to be a parliamentary group.
What the militancy has requested —the same sources continue— is greater decentralization in decision-making between the territories —that is, granting greater autonomy to the regional coordinators.
Management sources, however, insist that the bases have requested a double structure, similar to that of the PNV and that of other European liberal parties, as explained by the G-8 spokesman, Guillermo Díaz, at a press conference .
In fact, the survey that was carried out, for example, of 298 party officials said the following: 42% asked to maintain a presidential model and 58% a more transversal model.
Other technical sources reveal that bicephaly has been demanded by a very small percentage of the bases (less than 10%) and that the debate around this possibility was introduced after Díaz's press conference,
The anger led to a discussion within the group that drafted the statutory report, from which two proposals emerged: practically the same except for the powers of the new leader.
In a text (the one that defends the environment of the president of Cs) the bicephaly is incorporated, with a "general secretary" who will not be able to be a candidate for president of the Government.
But there is another proposal that does not include this extreme and maintains a presidential model, similar to the current one, without separating functions, although more transversal, leaving Caesarism behind.
The presentations have to be ratified by the extended executive, which was convened this Wednesday afternoon electronically to review the values, but not the statutory, given the lack of consensus of the latter.
“The militants were told that everything was at stake.
We are on the right track and it cannot be frustrated by leaving out the vote of the political leadership.
The political leadership has to be voted on now," says Francisco Igea, a member of the executive, who is meeting this Friday to discuss the statutory report.
Several leaders have requested that the appointment be in person and this has been granted.
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