The echo of the indignation and anger of Junts with the PSC for the Barcelona maneuver that deprived Xavier Trias of the mayoralty at the last minute, with the help of the commons and the PP, may not reach the Barcelona Provincial Council, where socialists and post-convergents have gone hand in hand in the last four years, despite the controversy that their entente caused.
The JxCat candidate in the Catalan capital yesterday did not rule out an agreement with the PSC in the supra-municipal entity, despite being the main victim of the operation concocted by Jaume Collboni. “I am not against that pact,” Trias assured in statements to TV3 and RAC1. “That I am angry and indignant does not mean that we are not intelligent in life,” said the post-convergent leader.
The Socialists, for their part, have always said that they are satisfied with how things have gone in the supra-municipal body so far and that they were in favor of reissuing the alliance. Although, with a clear majority, those of Salvador Illa can opt for various formulas to govern, the first secretary of the PSC yesterday was inclined not to review “approximations and approaches” that they have made to date with the post-convergents.
On the part of Junts, the decision will be made by the management, which has not yet adopted any position. On Saturday morning, when everything seemed to indicate that they would lead the Barcelona government with ERC as an ally, the agreement with the Socialists seemed more than on track, but now there are doubts and the party executive wants to leave the matter settled this week.
The post-convergent mayors of Lleida and Tarragona, where JxCat will not govern the supra-municipal bodies, are not happy with the situation and if JxCat is now left out of the Provincial Council executive in Barcelona, ??it could join the list of discontents. In addition, the council is the third administration in Catalonia in terms of budget and exemption from institutional protection. On the other side of the scale is the story that is articulated for the general elections. Especially considering that the plenary session of constitution of the Provincial Council, on a date yet to be determined between July 10 and 14, coincides with the first week of the campaign.
Be that as it may, yesterday Trias cleared the way for those who want the pact. The convergent former mayor, who was not in favor of JxCat leaving the Government in October of last year, believes that his party should always be in government whenever possible and “seek ways of collaboration so that the country can move forward.”
In addition, at all times Trias wanted to differentiate the figure from Collboni – “Everything he says is lies. He has not said a single thing that he has complied with because there are people who simply never tell the truth”, he said of him – of other socialist leaders such as Núria Marín, mayoress of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat and president of the supra-municipal entity since 2019 , or Antonio Balmón, mayor of Cornellà de Llobregat. Trias maintains that Marín “has great respect” because “she is a person who keeps her word.” About Balmón, with whom he met in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, he speaks in similar terms. However, Lluïsa Moret, mayoress of Sant Boi de Llobregat, is now being talked about to lead the Barcelona Provincial Council.
In Junts there was some fear that ERC would also try to agree with the socialists in the Barcelona Provincial Council, as it has done in Tarragona and Lleida, but yesterday Oriol Junqueras ruled out that scenario and, incidentally, asked JxCat to do the same.
This Sunday the formation of Jordi Turull and Laura Borràs held a meeting of the national council to analyze the results of the municipal elections and the management explained that the formation had been consolidated throughout the Catalan territory. However, at that meeting there was contained discontent among the leaders and a certain buzz about the post-election management and the pacts. There were those who questioned the negotiating strategy and the final result: ERC agrees with the PSC in the councils of Lleida and Tarragona and Junts is left out of the government of the Catalan capital and other important places. In fact, the only big city that will lead JxCat is Sant Cugat del Vallès.
Despite the fact that a good result in the general elections of July 23 can give wings to a more or less triumphalist discourse in Junts, in the intermediate cadres there is concern about the few levels of power reached at the municipal and supra-municipal level for the next four years, a situation aggravated by the departure of the Government last year.
