BarcelonaThe telematic assemblies have not solved the problem of participation that Barça is dragging for these events. Only 646 of the 4,478 delegate members mentioned in the extraordinary session held on Thursday took part in the vote on the sale of up to 49.9% of BLM, and even fewer, 569, exercised their vote to approve the board of Joan Laporta when transferring up to 25% of the television rights of the League to one or more investors. Thus, the figure was even lower than that of the first telematic assembly in the history of the Barça club, which was held on April 3 to ratify the sponsorship agreement with Spotify. At that time, 704 delegate members exercised their vote.
“This board considers that the processes of modernization and efficiency must be continued,” explained Josep Cubells, the secretary of the board of directors, when he began the assembly this Thursday. The purpose of the board of Laporta is to continue to hold telematics regularly, which is supported by a decree law of the Generalitat de Catalunya, although the possibility does not yet appear in the statutes of the club. Precisely, board sources have told ARA that this matter is one of those that is being worked on in the reform of the statutes that is underway.
“It is sad that the members do not know or do not want to enjoy such an important and differential right of our club,” Carles Ordiales, president of the FCB Monitoring group, told ARA. “It seems that the current economic and sports situation creates a certain disillusionment among the members. We are disappointed that, in four years, the critical spirit that was seen in 2018 in the debate on the shield has been lost “, he adds. But he points out that “the lack of information on the issues to be approved and the fact that the compromising partners are chosen by lot does not help either.” For this reason, and they have contributed to the open participatory process for the new statutes, Seguiment FCB considers that “the status of partner partner should be voluntary”.
Since Laporta came to the presidency in March 2021, he has convened four assemblies. In the first, held on June 20 last year on the grass of the Camp Nou, the economic balance 2019-2020 of the board of Josep Maria Bartomeu was approved and its budget for 2020-2021, although it was evidence that 10 days later it would not be met by a very wide margin. In addition, the incoming board requested permission from the compromising partners to apply for a 595 million euro loan from Goldman Sachs in order to alleviate the serious economic situation inherited. 629 delegate members took part in this face-to-face vote, a figure similar to that in Thursday’s vote.
The figure for October 23, 2021 at the Palau Blaugrana car park assembly (after the previous week’s one was postponed) was much lower, the last one being done in person, when decide to sell a minority stake in Barça Studios and suspend Article 67 of the Articles of Association (which obliges the board to resign if it loses two consecutive years). 421 and 347 delegate members took part in these votes, respectively.
“It simply came to our notice then. The former are not involved, although there has never been an easier time than now to participate in an assembly, and the latter is not enough to get them involved, ”said Marc Duch, chairman of the Manifest opinion group. Blaugrana. “The club is not very proactive. And on the other side of the table, there are people who are eager to participate who should have the opportunity to do so in an orderly manner. Assemblies need to be reformed to increase participation. But the question is whether the club wants it. Assemblies are awkward for any president. Instead, they should be seen as a traveling companion, ”he said.
The compromising members elected on Thursday were not directly informed of how they should vote until the same day of the assembly and did not receive a follow-up on their intentions to participate.
Much lower cost
According to this newspaper, the cost of telematic assemblies for Barça is around 100,000 euros, a figure much lower than the cost of face-to-face meetings. The regulars held at the Palau Blaugrana or in auditoriums in Barcelona were close to one million euros and the first of Laporta’s second term, which was held on the grass of the Camp Nou, reached this amount.
