Jaume Collboni is very advanced in the negotiations to incorporate ERC in the next few weeks in the government of the city of Barcelona. Several sources consulted by La Vanguardia have described as very likely the entry of the five Esqquerra Republicana councilors into the team of socialist mayor Jaume Collboni. The agreement with ERC would leave open, according to these same sources, the possibility of BComú also joining the executive and, therefore, a left-wing tripartite will be formed in the City Council of the Catalan capital.
The recent departure from the Consistory of ex-socialist Ernest Maragall has opened a previously unsuspected door for the expansion of the municipal government. Although the ERC group, now led by Elisenda Alamany, has announced its intention to practice strong opposition to the government of Jaume Collboni, the truth is that the contacts that have taken place in recent days have served to explore a way until recently unknown. An entry into the government of Barcelona, ??which despite the fact that no one dares to assume that it is well on its way, would allow ERC to abandon the secondary role it seemed condemned to in the Catalan capital. In addition, an agreement at the Barcelona City Council would facilitate the relationship with the PSC in Parliament with a view to future agreements such as that of the budgets of the Generalitat.
Jaume Collboni postponed yesterday at the last minute the meeting he had planned with Ada Colau and which the commons had taken care of publicizing last weekend. The meeting, suspended for “agenda reasons”, could be held today. This meeting was intended to resume negotiations around a possible government pact, an agreement that would expand the base of the municipal executive and allow it to push forward this year’s City Council budgets. It is known that the commons, since the very day of Collboni’s investiture, in June of last year, have been insisting the mayor on the need to conclude an agreement in which they want there to be a Republican Left, yes or no.
An understanding of socialists and republicans would not guarantee a majority in Collboni, since it would only reach 15 of the 41 councilors who make up the plenary council of the City Council. On the other hand, the sum of the three left-wing formations would allow him to greatly exceed the absolute majority, since he would capture all 24 councillors.
Since the bloc opposition prevented the mayor from approving the municipal budgets for 2024, which led him to an extension of last year’s, and even the previous months, Jaume Collboni has found with ex-mayor Xavier Trias a much more fluid dialogue than with his ex-members of BComú, who even went so far as to promote a reprimand of the mayor in the municipal meeting. Esquerra had barely appeared on the scene until on December 22 Ernest Maragall said goodbye to the City Council.
In this first half-year mandate, the PSC has found many more affinities with the Trias group. In fact, Collboni and the leader of Junts at the Barcelona City Council maintain a very good relationship, despite the fact that the socialist leader gained access to the mayoralty that seemed reserved for Trias, winner of the last municipal elections, thanks to a maneuver in which he had as accomplices not only the commons, but also the Popular Party. Why then does Collboni prefer to avoid a government agreement with Junts, which would guarantee him an absolute majority with 21 of the 41 councilors of the City Council? According to the sources consulted by this newspaper, the answer must be found far away from Barcelona, ??specifically in Waterloo. The socialist mayor does not at all trust the most radical sector of Junts, whose reference is the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont.
