One day after receiving the accolade from President Pedro Sánchez at the Fòrum, the socialist candidate for mayor of Barcelona, ​​Jaume Collboni, has warned of the dangers for the city if the winner on May 28 is a pro-independence party. “If the message that comes out of the polls is that the victory belongs to a candidate who belongs to an independence party, we will see what the headlines of the international press are, I would not support them, it is a risk,” Collboni assured this Friday in the last session of the cycle “Objectiu Barcelona: 50 preguntas als candidats”, organized by Barcelona Global and La Vanguardia, where all the mayors have passed in recent weeks.
“You cannot be pro-independence and moderate at the same time, there is something that does not add up here,” Collboni considered of Xavier Trias, who he has also criticized for hiding the initials of the party, “that of Puigdemont and Borrà s”, remarked the socialist candidate, who has valued the legacy of his party and has emphasized that “regardless of their ideology, all the candidates refer to the Barcelona led by the socialist mayors”.
For the mayor of the PSC, congresses such as the Mobile World Congress and events such as the America’s Cup can only be achieved when there is institutional stability and a job behind it such as that of the socialists in the City Council and in other administrations. Collboni has precisely defended the holding of major events “to help position the city, restore pride and make the people of Barcelona see the city to its fullest”. All this, he has promised, without forgetting the issues of proximity, “leading the Barcelona that looks long and the one that takes care of the human scale of the city”.
In this sense, the main challenge for Collboni is in terms of housing. The socialist candidate has recognized that the obligation for developers to allocate 30% to subsidized housing has not worked despite his good intentions and it is necessary to change it. “The solution is more offer, public and private, with planning developed to build 70,000 homes, of which 25,000 public, it is necessary to generate a framework of trust, common sense and institutional stability to have the commitment of the private party”, has valued Collboni in a strong defense of public-private collaboration. “Colau cannot guarantee it because he does not believe in public-private collaboration”, he concluded.
Another aspect of which Collboni disagreed with his government partner until a few weeks ago is the expansion of the El Prat airport. “La Ricarda is not Doñana”, exclaimed the socialist candidate, although he has avoided getting wet by an option to expand the third lane or another. One of the first actions that he proposes to carry out if he wins on May 28 is the creation of a working group with institutions, experts and the economic sector to evaluate the options.
He has also referred to a more daily transport for the people of Barcelona, ​​public transport. “More metro” is Collboni’s recipe in terms of mobility, which promises up to 13 new stations in extensions of lines 1, 3 and 5, in addition to the completion of line 9, although this question will depend on the investment of the Generalitat. He would like to combine all of this with more charging points to promote electric mobility.
Regarding Rodalies, he has criticized the lack of investment from previous governments in recent years. “We accumulated a historic disinvestment, we had a PP government that invested zero euros in Catalonia and a pro-independence government that was for other things,” Collboni lamented to value the progress of works such as those in La Sagrera since the PSOE returned to be in La Moncloa.
