He has begun to govern in a minority with nine councillors, five short of the majority, but ready to agree with any opposition party, with the exception of Vox. A good communicator and affable, married to a Rapite woman and father of two girls, he grew up in the neighborhood of Campclar, one of the most humble in Tarragona. Signed by Ciutadans for the PSC, only four years after the historic victory of the ERC, they have regained the mayorship.
How has the City Council found itself?
For treasury purposes, current expenditure has a rather serious problem. And it has a worrying projection in the time we have to fix it. It has increased spending by 14% over the past four years and revenue by just 8%.
Problems getting projects going?
We have money to make investments, but if I were a private person I could build a restaurant but I couldn’t open it because I wouldn’t have money for the staff or for the light. It’s a problem, but it has a solution.
With?
We will seek more efficiency, we will reduce expenses.
Have you imagined a government yet? And with whom?
I would like the opposition parties to understand that they should not veto each other.
With the PP and En Comú Podemos?
Maria Mercè Martorell (PP) said during the campaign that she would agree with everyone, even with the CUP. And that honors him. Martorell is a possibility, but so is Jordi Collado (En Comú Podem). We have put people who are not from the PSC in municipal bodies; in Cooperation there will be Collado.
The new POUM is one of the major pending issues. He says he doesn’t want classist urbanism…
And I keep it. We have municipally owned properties where we can build public housing, for example in Llevant and the Vall de l’Arrabassada. In Ponent, in Horta Gran, where ERC wanted to build, a green area will be created to connect Ponent with the center. Terres Cavades I see very clearly that it is an area of ??natural growth.
This is linked to an old way of building in Tarragona.
Terres Cavades has a cursed name, but in POUM it is called Vall del Llorito [laughter]. When there was the Terres Cavades case I was a child. What do they tell me!
Do you like the commitment to bike lanes and scooters made by the previous mayor?
I have asked engineering to explain all the projects in the bike lane portfolio and we need to rethink them. I think the Pere Martell bike lane was a mistake, it doesn’t work. We must prioritize connecting the URV campuses with a bike lane and humanize the N-340 to Altafulla.
And the scooters?
They generate security and mobility problems. We have an ordinance and we must enforce it. The freeway that was made for electric scooter companies I will not allow. Tarragona is a city to explore on foot and on urban mobility routes, by bus. Bicycles, too. We will make more dissuasive parking lots to start emptying the historic center of cars. The city must be for pedestrians.
Does Tarragona have more tourist routes?
Yes, but don’t panic. We can have many more tourists all year. We are not Salou nor do we want to be, with all due respect. We have the most beautiful beaches in Catalonia and they are not known.
More cruises?
The cruises are not a problem, we have to make the cruises stay and spend in Tarragona; tourist flats can be a problem. We have considered regulating them.
He has signed Pau Pérez, a trusted man of Ballesteros, as an advisor. Because?
None of those we have entered have ruled; that of Pau Pérez is a bet on experience. I make the decisions.
And Ballesteros, vice president of the municipal water company (Ematsa). Because?
He knows everyone, people respect him; it will help us a lot with one of the biggest challenges, the drought. I am very worried.
Are you worried about the decline in the social use of Catalan?
Yes. When I was little we all watched TV3. It did more for Catalan Son Goku than many laws of Parliament. We compete with youtubers and tiktokers who don’t speak Catalan. Generations like mine, who come from Spanish-speaking families and are bilingual, are dying out.
What will the City Council do for Catalan?
I speak Catalan as a mayor. If the Catalan Administration doesn’t do it, who will… But the serious problem is that there is no leisure content in Catalan.
