The pact that made it possible for the Socialists to take over the mayoralty of Barcelona in a surprising way was forged from the Catalan capital. Both Socialists and Populares deny that the order to invest Jaume Collboni as mayor came from Madrid, contrary to the thesis defended by Junts and ERC, who at the last moment saw their plan to govern the city together frustrated.
What made it possible for the socialist candidate to achieve sufficient support to unseat the Junts candidate, Xavier Trias, was a pact led by Collboni himself, “which was worked hard and reached the very end”, defended the first secretary of the PSC , Salvador Illa. Likewise, the socialist leader has assured that he trusts the new mayor’s will to “reach broad agreements” because “it is what is best for the city”, since his party will govern in a minority.
The leader of the PP in the Barcelona City Council, Daniel Sirera, has also denied that the pact was closed from the headquarters of Genoa and Ferraz. In statements to RAC1, he explained that it was he himself who asked the leadership of his political formation to put pressure on the Socialists to reach an agreement. He asserts that as a result of this request the general coordinator of the popular, Elías Bendodo, contacted the PSOE to offer him the votes of the PP in exchange for the common ones being left out of the municipal government.
In this sense, he has insisted that the final decision was made by the four councilors of the PP and, just “ten minutes before”, the general secretary of the PPC, Santi Rodríguez. Sirera has admitted, however, that he made a call to a leader of his formation to inform him of the decision and that he replied that “he would do what he considered best for Barcelona” while guaranteeing him the support of he.
Finally, it has detailed that 43 programmatic measures for the city of Barcelona proposed by the PP are being negotiated, although there is still no closed agreement.
