The new budget project of Barcelona City Council for this year presented by the socialist government has passed its first test today. The forecast of accounts made by Mayor Jaume Collboni’s team has counted in the extraordinary Economy Commission with the votes of the PSC, BComú and ERC groups, which have thus allowed the processing of the municipal accounts, which amount to historical figure of 3,807 million euros.
The Trias per Barcelona-Junts, PP and Vox groups have voted against this initial approval of budgets that will now be submitted to public exhibition before being subject to final approval or rejection in the plenary session on March 22.
The Deputy Mayor of Economy and Finance, Jordi Valls, was in charge of defending the proposal. He has especially appreciated the attitude of “trust”, “collaboration” and “loyalty” of ERC, which yesterday, Monday, signed a budget agreement with the socialists.
Valls has extended his gratitude to the common people, although the support given yesterday in the first instance by the formation led by former mayor Ada Colau is “conditional.” BComú raises the need for a three-party government agreement (PSC, BComú and ERC) as a condition to definitively support this year’s budgets. If the commons do not give in and end up denying their votes in the final approval in March, Mayor Collboni would almost certainly have to choose to submit to a question of confidence. A period of one month would then be opened for opposition groups to propose an alternative candidate for mayor. If, as expected, this option is not successful, the budgets would be automatically approved.
Despite the ultimatum of the commons, Valls has made it clear that what is being negotiated at this moment is the budget and that the government of Jaume Collboni, subscribed to the “step by step”, does not want to mix this issue with that of a pact of government.
The spokesman for the Junts group, Ramon Tremosa, has said that the attitude shown these days by the PSC shows that “it has never had any intention of agreeing” with the party led by the former convergent mayor of Barcelona and winner of the municipal elections of the year. past, Xavier Trias.
Tremosa has assumed that in the coming days the PSC will vote on the ERC budget in the Generalitat.
The spokesperson for the commons, the former deputy mayor of Urban Planning, Janet Sanz, insisted on the conditional nature of the initial support of her formation to the budgets of Collboni, whom she has accused of not having done the “exercise of responsibility” of forming a left-wing government with the participation of the commoners and the republicans.
“They will find us to negotiate, not to waste time,” warned Sanz, who has warned that the commons are not willing to act as “comparsas”, “close mini-agreements” and, in short, “be the small partners.” It is not lost on anyone that the fact that Ada Colau has decided to remain on the City Council represents a serious obstacle to any agreement between PSC and BComú.
The spokesperson for the ERC group, Jordi Castellana, has expressed satisfaction with the budget agreement and with the proposals accepted by the PSC at the request of Esquerra.
Popular Party councilor Àngels Esteller has defended her group’s no to the budgets with the argument that it continues the “interventionist” policies of the previous eight years. “We see the photo of Ada Colau. We continue with the same policies,” lamented the PP councilor.
Meanwhile, the president of the Vox group, Gonzalo del Oro, has said that he sees in the budget presented by the socialist government “the prelude to the tripartite.”
