Josep Maria Bartomeu, at the Círculo Ecuestre de Barcelona.
Josep Maria Bartomeu is a good survivor. Locked in his bunker and exhibiting that classic smile with which he usually ventures any crisis, the president of Barcelona does not intend to give up. Neither wants to advance the elections, scheduled for the summer of 2021, nor intends to resign. As much as the Camp Nou, handkerchief in hand, has two consecutive games demanding his departure. As much as an important sector of its board of directors tried to carry out a kind of coup d'état – that is, without anyone explicitly asking for his resignation – in the disconcerting conclave of last February 21. Even after the Barça club disbursed around 900,000 euros for hiring a company, I3 Ventures, linked to accounts fake and in which he charged against multiple targets, including his own players. A case, by the way, that after the pressure of several members of the board is being audited by the company Price Waterhouse, whose conclusions will be released in the coming days.
Bartomeu, during a lunch this Tuesday at the Barcelona Equestrian Circle, which was also attended by Emili Rousaud, Barça institutional vice president and candidate for succession, was forceful. His message, beyond the fact that businessmen and journalists were the occasional recipients, had a clear recipient: the rebel sector of his own government. “My term is six years and I plan to finish it. We will conclude it in the year 2021. Then be when there are elections. It is a responsibility that we will assume until the last consequences, “Claimed Bartomeu. The leader, also insisted that the board present” a continuing project “, a role for Rousaud. Beyond that the founder of Factornerga has been one of the directors more upset with the management of the latest crisis.
The members of the board who seek the departure of the president they have found in Bartomeu a granite block. According to article 35.4 of the Barcelona statutes, only a general resignation of its members (more than 75% of the number of directors, not including the president) would precipitate the creation of a management commission to be in charge of a hypothetical electoral advance.
No date for the referendum for Espai Bara
Bartomeu, yes, admitted the need to call a referendum to approve the new financing of Espai Bara after the costs skyrocketed, from the 600 million euros budgeted to a figure greater than 800. However, the coronavirus crisis, and according to Bartomeu, makes it difficult to foresee its close celebration given the preference for voting on match day and without restrictions on attendance at the stadium. Said referendum, beyond approving the fantastic work of the current Barça government, acquires even more relevance before the plebiscitary character that it would acquire before the social mass.
Bartomeu did not settle his intervention without throwing some darts that did not go unnoticed. First, I told Eder Sarabia, assistant coach Quique Setin, after those images at the Santiago Bernabu in which he showed his vehemence before the footballers: “The forms are not what corresponds”. In addition, he was critical of the Barcelona game, despite regaining the leadership of the League this last day after the suffered victory against Real Sociedad and the fall of Real Madrid at Villamarn. “I'm not satisfied. The results are correct, but the improvement has to come”The President admitted that he did not hesitate to use the term “transition” when referring to the present.
A convulsive stage with a tendency to self-destruction from which Bartomeu does not intend to separate.
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