Trust and Firm Hand: Govern Illa's Strategy to Reclaim the Narrative of Order

Salvador Illa made security one of his government's priorities to restore social peace and economic momentum in Catalonia. He chose the former mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Núria Parlon, to open a new chapter in Interior. The councilor launched ambitious plans to tackle repeat offenses, squatting, and organized crime.

But the passage of months has shown that the task won't be easy and will require time and patience. Just what Catalans don't have, tired of seeing the daily degradation of security in their municipalities. This 2025, homicides have skyrocketed, there is another wave of stabbings, and repeat offenders and squatters roam freely.

Faced with the first obstacles, the Govern has adopted a new strategy. They want to convey trust to the citizens while showing themselves to be relentless in keeping order and security. Two recent phenomena help to understand this better.

On one hand, the launch of a plan by the Mossos d'Esquadra to convey to citizens the supposed good security data in Barcelona. The Trust Plan arises from police leadership, but it has met with skepticism from the officers. Those who patrol daily in Barcelona convey precisely the opposite, that the situation is much worse than thought.

On the other hand, Interior has taken advantage of the recent disturbances in Mataró to show itself as relentless with public disorder. Salt and Mataró have set off all the alarms, and the Govern doesn't want to lose control of keeping security. Parlon said that "it can't be normalized" and promised to "act with forcefulness".

Trust and Forcefulness

Parlon has always been very careful when praising the work of her predecessor in the position, the former councilor Joan Ignasi Elena. But she is also aware of the mistakes he made. Under his mandate, crime skyrocketed while he denied it and spoke of mere perceptions.

The Interior councilor believes in the need to convey trust to the citizens to improve the perception of security. But she also knows that the narrative alone is not enough. What happened in the previous stage shows that the narrative must be accompanied by a firm hand and results.

Not only the firmness shown in Mataró. The Kanpai Operation against repeat offenses, with more than a thousand officers on the streets of Barcelona and the metropolitan area, also helped to convey this trust. In parallel, the Mossos d'Esquadra have several operations underway to seize knives and firearms.

Will It Be Enough?

One of Interior's purposes to reduce the crime curve is to put more police presence on the streets. Another is the coordination of police forces, which is being seen in the action in the municipalities most affected by squatting and crime.

The third concerns the Department of Justice and involves the creation of more courts to unclog quick trials. In recent days, there have been several reports of repeat offenders who have been sent to jail by the judge. Something that also helps to convey trust to the citizens and supports the Govern's motto that "whoever does it pays for it".

The Govern wants to occupy a space of centrality between excessive benevolence and extreme punitivism. Parties like Vox and Aliança Catalana, but also Junts, increase the pressure for more deportations of foreign criminals.

Interior insists on its recipe to avoid the siren songs of the radical right. But, will it be enough?