The association Justicia Guardia Civil (JUCIL) has denounced attempts to transfer spaces and offices within the Tarragona port police headquarters to the Mossos d'Esquadra, aiming to establish a permanent base for its maritime police. The group claims the move lacks proper legal justification and represents a politically driven effort to expand regional policing at the expense of national forces. JUCIL stated on Tuesday that the transfer of facilities to the regional environmental unit (URMA) would mark the first step in dismantling the Guardia Civil's presence at state ports, with a potential extension to Barcelona’s port. The association attributes the move to political agreements between the Catalan government and pro-independence parties to maintain support.

An earlier 2024 legal opinion from the State Legal Service opposed the transfer of space to the URMA, arguing the regional unit lacked jurisdictional competence in a port of general interest. However, JUCIL claims that political changes in 2026 within the Catalan government and the Tarragona Port Authority have revived the plan under informal agreements, bypassing previous technical and legal objections. The group has announced it will request official minutes and resolutions from the Tarragona Port Authority’s governing council, along with updated legal opinions from the State Legal Service, to investigate the reversal in position since 2024.

“Today it’s Tarragona, tomorrow it will be Barcelona and the progressive dismantling of the corps in this region. We demand the immediate suspension of this transfer until its legal and functional basis is proven,”

said a JUCIL spokesperson.

The Port of Tarragona is currently under the jurisdiction of the port police and hosts a permanent maritime unit of the Guardia Civil, the national force legally responsible for coastal surveillance, border control, and judicial policing at sea. The proposed transfer follows a 2024 agreement to station eight members of the Mossos’ Regional Environmental Unit (URMA) at the port to strengthen coordination on environmental crime and civil protection emergency plans.

Primary sources: Departament d'Interior i Seguretat Pública, mossos.gencat.cat, dsp.interior.gencat.cat. Reported by radiociutat.com, reusdigital.cat, EFE, eb.guardiacivil.es, diarimes.com, porttarragona.cat, elmon.cat, CAFÈ D'IDEES - RTVE.es, europapress.es, PRESSDIGITAL, Xavi Fernández de Castro, El Debate, ara.cat, Guillem RS.