The Republican Ernest Maragall announced yesterday that he will leave the Barcelona City Council after the next plenary session. He did it by surprise, unexpectedly, while defending an ERC proposal on the Via Laietana police station, somewhat overshadowing the already expected farewell of the common Jordi Martí Grau, who is leaving the Consistory to take over the Secretary of State of Ministry of Culture.
And a few days ago, on these same pages, the ex-mayor, winner of the last elections and leader of the opposition, Xavier Trias, already revealed that he will most likely leave during the first months of next year .
The farewell of some of the most relevant faces of Barcelona’s municipal politics in recent days will do nothing other than further delay the negotiations for the governability of Barcelona. The Junts, BComú and ERC groups are headed for a reorganization.
Mayor Jaume Collboni sighs with some relief. The constitution of Pedro Sánchez’s Government has not weakened his team. And the truth is that the socialist is in no hurry to get along with anyone. If he does it is because the pressures of others leave him no other choice. So he will calmly contemplate the restructuring of the opposition.
A couple of weeks ago, the number 2 on the ERC list, Elisenda Alamany, said very naturally that Maragall would not finish his term, and that when he left she would assume command of the group. Everyone was more or less clear that after the passing of the socialist Jaume Collboni, who at the last minute wrested the mayoralty from Xavier Trias – and therefore a mayoralty from Maragall himself -, the republican’s hours in the Consistory would be scarce Maragall’s departure leaves those on the Left completely upset.
The former socialist republican was the first ERC candidate to win an election in Barcelona, ??despite the fact that later the Valls operation left him one step away from the mayoralty, and that in the following elections he lost half of his councillors. Faced with this succession of cataclysms, those on the Left face the remainder of the mandate, well prepared to practice a very tough opposition. At the moment, Alamany’s leadership is not indisputable.
Apparently, Jordi Martí’s departure is not as decisive as Maragall’s. But the thing is that with this the common people lose their plumber, the man who among their ranks knows the intricacies of the local administration best, the most prepared to face budgets of billions of euros, the negotiator able to transform a defeat into a victory that every formation needs.
In addition, lately it was gaining political relevance, especially as the wait for a possible call from Madrid that ultimately did not happen kept Ada Colau at half throttle. As for the roles in BComú, it is also not clear to what extent Janet Sanz will gain prominence.
And one of the people who will most regret the departure of Trias, when it finally happens, will be Mayor Collboni. The truth is that they understand each other very well. The relationship with Jordi Martí Galbis was also very fluid. Here the main problem is that the Junts have one councilor more than the Socialists, and any government pact they can achieve would seem strange.
