The formula of political consensus that has prevailed in recent years in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) has been revalidated once again. The PSC has opted to form a broad government in which it integrates Junts, ERC and En Comú Guanyem despite having a sufficient majority in the metropolitan council to govern alone. Not only that, for the first time the Socialists assume the presidency of the supra-municipal administration, which by an unwritten law falls to the mayor of Barcelona, ??after the re-foundation in 2011 of the three existing metropolitan entities until then.
“It is a policy exercise with a broad perspective”, highlighted the executive vice president of the AMB, Antonio Balmón, after signing the agreement with the rest of the political formations. For Balmón, it is a demonstration of the “way of working with consensus and for the benefit of local communities” that has been carried out in recent years and that he intends to maintain in the new mandate. The objective, moreover, is to become a more respected interlocutor and taken into account by both the Generalitat and the Government.
Despite being a quadripartite government, the weight of the PSC in the third administration with the largest budget in Catalonia will be evident. The vice-presidencies from which the distribution of responsibilities was structured are now called areas, on which the delegated councils will also depend. The Socialists will control four areas (double that in the previous term) and four delegated councils and the rest of the metropolitan government partners will have one each (half that up to now in the case of common and republican).
In socialist hands will be the most important issues of this administration and that Balmón describes as “issues with little glamor but priorities and with a lot of impact.” That is: housing, mobility, economic development, social policies and the water cycle. This last question was managed by the commons in the last mandate and caused important internal discrepancies. From now on it will have its own area and it will be in the hands of the PSC, who will also direct housing construction policies through IMPSOL and the mixed company Habitatge Metròpolis Barcelona.
In Comú Guanyem, this time he will be in charge of the climate action area (without the powers over water that they previously had with the Vice-presidency of Ecology) and the metropolitan strategic agenda, which are now unified in the same area from where the new metropolitan waste prevention plan should be deployed.
For its part, Junts will assume the area of ??urban policies, previously in the hands of ERC and which has responsibilities for the ambitious Metropolitan Urban Master Plan (PDUM) that one day should replace the old Metropolitan General Plan (PGM) of 1976. The post-convergents will also be in charge of the delegated council of natural spaces. As for the Republicans, they maintain the international area and add the digital metropolis portfolio to their powers.
The names that will be in charge of each of these areas will be announced on Thursday, when the full constitution of the AMB and the portfolio will be held. What is already clear is that Jaume Collboni, as mayor of Barcelona, ??will assume the presidency of an administration that he knows well because he was previously vice president of the economic area. In addition, the mayor of Cornellà, Antonio Balmón, will remain as executive vice president, the most important position in the organization chart and which he has held for twelve years.
