This Saturday, Collboni took office as the new mayor of Barcelona, after it was taken for granted that the position would fall to Xavier Trias
Jaume Collboni (Barcelona, 1969) is the new mayor of barcelona, something that was confirmed on Saturday at the last second, after it was assumed that the position would fall on Xavier Trias. Collboni quotes EL PERIÓDICO, from the Prensa Ibérica group, in can Clos, in the Marina del Port neighborhood, at the foot of Montjuïc, to offer his first interview as leader of the town council.
You agreed on Saturday at 5:17 p.m. in the Saló de Cent, where the investiture plenary session was held. Did you already know when you entered that you would be the new mayor?
No. I entered with two speeches: an investiture speech and another as head of the opposition.
When did you write them?
I made them on Friday morning.
At what precise moment did you realize that you would be mayor?
When I saw that we were passing 21 votes (a figure that gives an absolute majority).
Didn’t you see it when Daniel Sirera said that he was not formally running for mayor?
Beyond the anecdote, what is relevant is that it was an open plenary session, which is already in the past. What there is is a new mayor in Barcelona, a party that governs, the PSC, and I will begin my new stage by applying the electoral program. The councilors who have invested me must explain their motivations, but they knew that they were voting for a socialist mayor with a social democratic program.
Did you speak to Ada Colau the hours before? She said that you had offered her a secret pact with the PP on Friday.
The important thing is to look to the future, to start a new phase. We entered the plenary without being certain how we could get out, but we were prepared to go to the opposition, I said that we would do it if he was not mayor, and also to govern from minute 1. And we have done it: I already signed the decree of the provisional folder and all those that guarantee the institutional continuity of the council.
Will the current ‘sottogoverno’ of PSC and Comuns change?
Obviously not, the management structure will be of continuity, and neither will the management structure. Firstly, because we are not sectarian and secondly, because there are excellent professionals in charge of many areas of the city council. My obligation is to guarantee institutional continuity.
Several commitments made during the electoral campaign have been shelved. He said that if he didn’t win, he wouldn’t try to be mayor; the Comuns, who would not participate in a “triangulation with the PP” that would make you mayor. What should the public think?
Citizens fully understand that democracy is a pact and that the pacts that are valid in Girona or in the Lleida and Tarragona councils are valid in Barcelona. Also that in elections there is always a winner, as Salvador Illa won the Catalan elections and did not become president of the Generalitat, and it did not occur to the PSC to question the legitimacy of the figure of ‘president’ Pere Aragonès. What’s more, the PSC has ended up voting on the ERC budgets.
In other words, it is not necessary to pay attention to what the candidates say in the campaign?
We have been absolutely consistent. In such a polarized campaign, it was very difficult not to say things that could not be fulfilled later. I did not put red lines. I set the conditions for the new government to start talking: economic growth, social justice and institutional loyalty.
Citizens fully understand that democracy is a pact, and that agreements are part of the democratic logic
To what extent has the pact made by the mayor been woven in Madrid?
At no point. The decision of the votes has been taken in Barcelona. We have done what I said we would do: take my candidacy to the end.
You have 10 councilors and for now you have no potential members. The Comuns have announced that they are going over to the opposition, and an agreement with Junts or with ERC does not seem easy right now, dismounted at the last minute from the city government. How will he rule?
Doing something that we socialists are very good at: talking and reaching agreements. I am well aware of the arithmetic we have. And I am very confident in our ability to agree. The PSC will play the role of PSC and close broad agreements, except with the extreme right, to move forward with the key issues in the city in the coming months.
Do you want to have a partner?
I made an offer last Thursday to the Comuns, when I asked for their support, to form a coalition government with them, and that is the idea in my head. It is the Comuns who have decided to go to the opposition and invest me. But I have a project that everyone knows, my contract with the voters, an idea and a proposal that is a progressive coalition. It could not have been, it seems legitimate and understandable to me. I assume the responsibility of leading the city with the government that has left the plenary and we will see in the coming months how we articulate the necessary majorities to make the consistory governable.
Will you try to form a government with another party after the general elections on July 23?
What is relevant for citizens is that the town hall will continue to function normally, and that the issues that concern them the most, such as cleanliness or security, will be clear priorities. And what is more in the medium term, such as housing or the application of the rental regulation will be applied immediately. We will start ruling.
If Colau leaves the city council, will a government agreement with the Comuns be easier?
We have to wait for the right time to pass. But that won’t stop the city from working. On Monday I will start making decisions.
The PP has a list of conditions to give it its votes, a series of measures that contrast with the policies made in Barcelona in recent years. Do you feel obligated to comply?
I have not signed any investiture agreement. The motives of the PP and the Comuns have to explain them, but what has been voted for is a socialist mayor, who is the one in charge of the city and with a socialist, progressive, left-wing program.
We have done what I said we would do: take my candidacy to the end
So you don’t feel linked by Sirera’s list?
The groups legitimately present their proposals, but I have not signed a paper with anyone.
Is it ruled out that the PSC tries a government pact with Junts, without Trias?
We get to govern and what we will seek will be city agreements.
Four years of minority government or yes or yes he will have to find a government partner.
My attitude, my political culture, and we have shown it as the central party that we are in Barcelona and Catalonia, is to seek agreements that are as broad as possible, excluding the extreme right, to make the city governable based on specific proposals. I want to be everyone’s mayor, that’s what I feel I have to be: talk to everyone, seek consensus and not rule against anyone.
The electoral program includes the connection of the tram, but does not specify when.
Let’s not rush scenarios, we are aware of the situation in the city of Barcelona. We have to start the city and address the immediate problems that citizens have through dialogue and agreement. Our positions on the city’s key issues are known and depending on how the mandate progresses we will make our commitments a reality.
He promised in the campaign that in the first 100 days as mayor he would revoke the reform of the Ronda de Sant Antoni. Will he?
The electoral program of the PSC is known, I occupy the mayor’s office and my obligation is to start the city and attend to the problems of the citizenry. We have a position on all issues and my goal is to comply 100% with my electoral program.
Therefore, it will revoke the reform.
I will not say right now what the decisions are because you have to take into account the arithmetic that exists in the council. I have to manage decisions responsibly and seeking dialogue and agreement.
He was very clear defending that the 30% reserve for social housing had to be modified or that in the first 100 days he would start up the next section of coverage of the Ronda de Dalt. Now do you avoid that clarity so as not to scare away the Comuns from a government pact?
No no. When one makes an electoral program, he does it thinking that he has a monocolor government of the PSC.
Did you feel bad about Trias and Maragall?
We political leaders have to be very careful with personal relationships, but when we address the media or the citizenry there are things that have to remain for the personal relationship between political leaders. It wasn’t nice from a personal point of view, but we shouldn’t base political discourse on personal relationships.
Did Trias’ “fuck you” impact you?
I made an inauguration speech thinking about the future of the city, I pointed out the challenges facing humanity and it seems so immense and important to me that making assessments of a different type detracts from the challenges we face.
How did Aragonès’s first words fit in after their first meeting?
I want to be very institutional and respectful of the Government. We are the capital of the country and I want to act as the capital of the country from the point of view of institutional loyalty and do it with generosity. I will do it without sectarianism and thinking about what benefits the citizens the most. Many services depend on the Generalitat and my obligation is to have the best institutional relationship with the ‘president’ of the Generalitat and not get into controversy.
I have not signed any investiture agreement with either PP or Comuns
Have you already spoken with Pedro Sánchez?
Evidently. He called me to congratulate me and to say that this was very important for the country and for the socialist party.
Are you afraid that there are pacts sealed with the independentistas that could change from now on? For example, those of the Tarragona and Lleida councils with ERC.
No. It will be one of the proofs that the policy of agreements is made locally. What I would ask for is consistency. What is considered good in Girona must be considered good in Barcelona.
And the Barcelona Provincial Council?
He has not been at this table, we have not linked city council agreements to provincial council agreements. There are open conversations with all the parties and it is in the hands of the national leadership of my party, which is holding conversations with Comuns, Junts and ERC. With the days, when the map of the agreements is seen, it will be seen that everyone has agreed with everyone for the good of the citizens. Everyone should keep in mind that whoever 48 hours after the elections proclaimed to create a pro-independence front, a frontist government, was ERC. We are here to overcome the blocks. In addition, that front with Trias, curiously, only occurred in Barcelona and Girona and has not occurred in dozens and dozens of municipalities in the country. That also explains why things have gone like this in Barcelona.
They accuse him of not wanting to sit down with Maragall and Colau. Has the possibility of tripartite been sufficiently explored?
I have spoken with all the municipal leaders except the extreme right and we have explored many avenues and many arithmetic because it is complicated. To be respectful of the capacity for trust that we must generate among municipal leaders, it would be good not to speculate about conversations, proposals and counterproposals because there was everything. I want to remind you that the first proposal issued is that of the pro-independence front led by Trias.
Do you think that the arithmetic with which you have become mayor, with the votes of Comuns and also of the PP, can have an impact on the general elections?
We are the antithesis of the PP. The PSC will clearly win the general elections in Catalonia. The logic of what the PP has done in Barcelona has nothing to do with Spanish politics or with the fundamental political approaches that we have about housing, sexist violence, the vision of the State, the ability to dialogue With everyone. We will win on the street in Catalonia and I think we will also win in Spain.
Did you come to offer Trias to split the mayor’s office?
In negotiations many proposals are made. I had conversations with Junts, I do not hide, and many proposals were put on the table that did not come to fruition, as is evident. It does not contribute much to give it more turns.