Manager Departs After Two Years
Jofre Clofent, manager of the Badalona City Council, has resigned after two years in the role, the council confirmed on Wednesday 16 September 2026. The position, created by Mayor Xavier García Albiol in May 2024 as a central reform to modernise the city’s administration, is now vacant with just eight months until municipal elections. The council stated that Clofent’s departure was by "mutual agreement" and described his tenure as "satisfactory." However, sources consulted by La Vanguardia indicate that Clofent sought to return to Premià de Mar City Council, where he previously led the Contracting service from 2007 to 2020, a role he also held in Badalona between 2020 and 2022. Clofent, a law graduate from the University of Barcelona, has held several senior legal and administrative roles in public administration, including as a lawyer for the Advisory Board on Administrative Contracting of the Generalitat.
Opposition Demands Answers
The resignation comes amid mounting criticism of Albiol’s administration over sluggish budget execution and delayed payments to suppliers. In the first half of 2026, only 27% of the city’s budget had been spent, along with just 4.5% of planned investments. Treasury reserves rose to 442 million euros by the second quarter, 100 million more than at the end of 2025. Suppliers are currently paid an average of 162.65 days after invoicing, among the longest delays in Catalonia. Opposition parties have seized on the manager’s exit as evidence of systemic dysfunction.
The Popular Party came in saying they would fix the City Council and, after more than three years, the reality is that the machinery still isn’t working.
Fernando Carrera, president of the PSC municipal group, said the resignation proves the city’s administrative machinery is failing under the PP-led government. He stressed that the 442 million euros in treasury funds, combined with long payment delays, shows a failure of management, not a lack of resources.
Guanyem Demands Resignations
Guanyem Badalona went further, formally calling for the immediate resignation of Eva Guillén, the fifth deputy mayor and head of Finance, Human Resources, and Social Services. The party dismissed the council’s explanation as an "official falsehood" meant to conceal the collapse of technical governance. Dolors Sabater, president of Guanyem Badalona, accused Albiol of turning the council into a "regime of favoritism" and said rigorous public servants were being penalised in favour of political clientelism. She demanded that the mayor appear publicly to explain Clofent’s departure and the broader crisis in management personnel.
Other Parties Voice Concern
Alex Montornès, leader of the ERC municipal group, questioned the effectiveness of Albiol’s administrative model, noting that the manager was originally presented as a key solution to long-standing structural problems. With those issues persisting, he said the government must clarify its current vision for city administration. Aïda Llauradó, president of Comuns a Badalona, called the resignation another sign of a "management disaster" and criticised Albiol for focusing on political spectacle over governance. She said widespread public opinion recognises the council’s dysfunction, "except PP officials." The council has not yet announced an interim or permanent replacement for Clofent.
Reported by elplural.com.
