Betevé was the scene this Monday of the first debate in the campaign between the mayors of the seven groups that are represented in the Barcelona City Council. Ernest Maragall (ERC), Ada Colau (Barcelona en Comú), Jaume Collboni (PSC), Anna Grau (Ciutadans), Eva Parera (Valents), Xavier Trias (Junts) and Daniel Sirera (PP). It is not that the debate has been specially trained or enriching, but neither is it excessively abrupt.
On what is the key issue, that of the alliances that will have to be made for the formation of the next city government, Collboni, the one that can have the most play, with possible pacts in two directions, has chosen to claim broad support that spare you the trance.
Sirera affirms that she will not respect the list with the most votes if it is that of Colau and that she will do whatever is necessary so that she does not become mayor again
Some candidates have found their space better than others. Trias has given the feeling of participating little during some parts, something that in phases has also happened to Colau, but it would be said that in her case in a sought-after way: the mayoress has a low-intensity sought-after campaign. Maragall has wanted to act as the voice of conscience that denounces the breaches of others, but the feeling that at this point it is very difficult for him to aspire to mayoralty hurts him.
From future mayor to former partner
Collboni He has adopted the attitude that he has been assuming for days, that of someone who is convinced that he has the mayoralty one step away. and maybe for that in some phases he has received attacks from almost all his rivalsfrom Colau to Grau –the most ironic, the one who seemed to live the debate with less tension-, going through Sirera and Parera –those who have most sought a clash with the mayors who are leading the polls.
Attacks in the sense of denouncing that the socialist mayor is hiding that he has been a partner of the mayoress during the term that is now ending and part of the previous one. In fact, Colau has reproached him for “lack of credibility & rdquor; for disassociating himself from the management of the government that he has shared with her but citing as his own merit the measures taken by the city council on the economic front, which as first deputy mayor he has directed these last four years. And Sirera was insisting on remembering that Collboni has been in the government.
The ‘superilla’
The first block, mobility, was quite clear from the start. The mayoress defending the ‘superilla’ model and the green axes, and the rest affirming either that it is not true that she is making ‘superilles’ –Trias, Maragall and Collboni-, that the city collapses with them or both.
Maragall, who has probably been the best in the technical details of the projects, has questioned Colau’s mobility not because of his objective, but because of his management, but it is not something very different from what Collboni has done, defending his proposal to park green axes and committing to the reform of the interiors of the Eixample block.
Collboni: “I will connect the tram& rdquor;
Sirera has also charged against Colau’s management, but with much more virulence: “His occurrences turn Barcelona into chaos & rdquor ;. Collboni has mentioned his willingness to cover the Ronda de Dalt, a project that all the mayors have defended. The Socialist, who in a recent speech opened up to postponing the connection of the tram on the Diagonal and not doing it for the next term, has stated: “I will connect the tram, let it be clear& rdquor ;.
“I don’t know if he speaks as a member of the government,” Colau reproached Collboni, who replied: “As a candidate for mayor.” Maragall has cited the problems of Rodalies to attack him: “It is his great failure, Mr. Collboni & rdquor ;.
living place
In an economic debate, with little chicha and reaffirmation of positions regarding tourism, Collboni has stated that if he governs he will be committed to growth to combat inequality, a thesis that he shares with Trias and that separates him from Colau.
In housing, there have been many reproaches to Colau, although only Sirera has reminded him of his unfulfilled founding promise, those 8,000 votes promised by Barcelona en Comú in 2015 that were not made in a mandate. The mayoress has defended 30% subsidized housing, questioned above all by Trias and Sirera, but also by Parera, who has accused the city government of not promoting construction.
Maragall recalled that the rent is 46.5% in the eight years that Colau has been mayor. More or less at this point, Parera and Grau have begun to mention occupation as a general problem, and in particular because of the Bonanova conflict. And that case has been reappearing.
coalition of adversaries
Collboni has stressed that the current government leaves plans to build 70,000 more apartments. And Colau has reacted denouncing that this has been done by Urbanism, in the hands of the Comuns and it has made him ugly that it does give value to some parts of the management of these years: “Now he is proud & rdquor;. In short, this campaign is making clear what was already seen: that the partners have worked more in parallel than in a coalition during the last term.
Safety and dirt, Barcelona’s main problems, according to the city council’s own surveys, have generated the usual scuffle: the opposition denouncing bad management and Colau replying in terms of cleaning – the problem has been the renewal of the contract, he has said as usual – and insecurity, about which he has stated that the data has improved.
The sirera operation
In the block on agreements, Sirera has been resounding: “We are going to do everything possible so that Colau does not continue to be mayor& rdquor ;. The mayor of the PP has answered with a resounding “No” to the question of whether she will respect the most voted list: “If Colau is the most voted, I will do everything possible so that she does not continue to be mayor& rdquor ;.
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Trias has chosen not to comment on the possible formula in which Sirera would enter, which implies adding votes with the PSC and Junts to reach the 21 councilors who give an absolute majority and who serve to invest a mayor who is not Colau even if he wins. “I never go against it, I show up to win, I want a change in the city,” Trias said.
Maragall: never with the PSC
Maragall has assured that he will exclude the PSC from any pact, who will not be in a government in which the socialists are. AND Collbonito which Colau asked for clarity, has avoided complicating and has stressed that the polls give him a winner: “I have many options to be mayor & rdquor ;. “For me it is about winning with a large majority that gives me complete freedom to start a new stage,” said the socialist, making it clear that he wants to have numbers that allow him to avoid dependence on third parties. And it depends on how the numbers go, Sirera is here the third, in a hypothetical sum of PSC, Junts and PP that guarantees that Colau does not govern even if he wins.