Until the municipal elections of May 28, Jaume Collboni was one of the clear favorites to win the mayoralty, either as winner or as second through pacts, although not with the combination of support that finally gave him the rod of command, the votes of Barcelona en Comú and the PP. He became mayor of Barcelona in his third attempt as mayor. He did it on June 17, in a heart-stopping investiture.
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Now he has a complex decision ahead of him: who to make his stable government partner. Official or unofficial. Because running the city with 10 councilors and the opposition against is very difficult, if not impossible. To achieve a stable majority in the plenary session, he has two paths: reissue a left-wing alliance with Barcelona en Comú and perhaps also ERC – which he has publicly supported – or break the mold with a socio-vergence of PSC and Junts per Barcelona. There is also the possibility that ERC completes one of the two alliances (the second option seems less likely, but nothing is surprising in the council) without actually entering the municipal government.
For now he has not taken firm steps in either direction. Depending on the chosen partner, Collboni would have more or less difficulty in facing the three main challenges of the mandate.
Civics; from the perfect alliance to potential suspicion
On the Civic front, the mayor would benefit from a partner like Junts per Barcelona, who would be happy to distance himself from the previous period, from the Ada Colau era. The modification of the Coexistence Ordinance would be a party, and the exhibition of good relations with the city’s business sector, a resounding bet.
On the contrary, if Barcelona en Comú becomes the new partner, a joint speech that defends that sanctions and surveillance of citizen behavior must be reinforced, despite the fact that the group supports the ERC proposal to reform the ordinance. His presence in the government would not lubricate the PSC’s ties with the business world either, and logically it would not support the image of a turning point. Both because of the principles of the Comuns and because it would mean pointing out Colau’s management during his eight years at the head of the city as negative.
Living place; the 30% that distances the PSC from Colau
That Mayor Collboni has shown signs that he wants housing policy to be a priority of his government should not be a problem with either Junts or Barcelona en Comú as partners. But it is evident that in the second case the discrepancy would be greater, because the competition would go from being led by Colau to being led by the socialists.
The first major measure of the new government, that of offering 27 plots of land to the Generalitat, has already been criticized by the Comuns, who seem more in favor of the city council being in charge of promoting, under the command of different operators, protected housing that the city needs. But the real discrepancy comes with the flexibility of the 30% protected housing in the promotions and rehabilitations that the mayor intends to carry out. With Junts it would be very easy to agree. With Barcelona en Comú, very complicated.
Public transport; the tram that Trias doesn’t want to get on
To begin with, large projects that entail an increase in the offer of public transport to citizens must generate a simple consensus whether the PSC governs with Junts or with the Comuns. With one exception: the tram connection along Diagonal. Although there is another nuance immediately: the problems in agreeing on that connection would be more with Xavier Trias than with his group. Because it is Trias, more than Junts, who has been vehemently rejecting for years that the Trambesòs and the Trambaix join together and also run along the section of Diagonal that goes from Verdaguer to Francesc Macià. Because the part that will arrive in Verdaguer next year is no longer dismantled, common sense indicates.
If the pact is with the Comuns, the tram will not find an obstacle. If it is with Junts and Trias has already gone home, as the former mayor announced he will do next year, perhaps it will also be viable without many qualms, because we must remember that the Catalan Government, with Junts in the presidency, made an agreement with Colau prolonging the infrastructure, against Trias’s criteria and causing him visible and notable anger.