The negative response of opposition groups, in particular Trias per Barcelona and Barcelona en Comú, to the reactivation of the municipal budgets for this year has not changed the strategy of the government of the socialist mayor, Jaume Collboni, to carry out the accounts for 2024. In the presentation of the new project, the Deputy Mayor for Economy, Jordi Valls, has increased the pressure on those parties that have the approval in their hands: “Not supporting the budget is giving up on Barcelona.”
Valls has presented the budgets with which he will try to convince the opposition groups in the coming days, before Tuesday, when the Collboni government plans to take them to an extraordinary municipal commission to rule on the matter.
The new accounts modify by 71 million those that were presented and rejected in October. The new budget rises to a record figure of 3,807 million, 5.9% more than that of 2023, which was extended by the municipal government due to the impossibility of finding the essential support to carry out the new accounts. This increase with respect to the rejected budget is due to the increase in State transfers.
The accounts presented by Valls contemplate a record investment of 777.6 million euros, which rises to 944 million if those planned by the Institut Municipal de l’Habitatge, the municipal company BSM and other entities linked to the City Council are added.
Valls, like Mayor Collboni the previous day, has insisted on the good economic and financial health of the City Council and the city, in general, to appeal to the responsibility of the opposition. “I am optimistic because being optimistic is the most useful thing,” said the architect of the municipal budget. The deputy mayor has preferred not to comment on the possibility of Collboni submitting to a question of confidence as a way to approve this budget, an option that does not fit in the speech of the socialists for the coming days but that they consider as safe if the opposition does not give in.
Jordi Valls has assured that there is room for maneuver to modify the budget during the express negotiation that he will hold before Tuesday with the opposition groups, although he has made it clear that “what we will not do is give up our project.”
The political person responsible for municipal finances has listed some of the large projects and investments planned in the budget, from the reform of the Rambla (8 million this year out of a total of 48 million during this term), the coverage of the Dalt round (6 million), the new l’Abaceria market in Gràcia (12.9 million), the school air conditioning plan (13.6), the improvement of the groundwater network (14.4), the accommodation social emergency, food for vulnerable families and other policies against inequality (30), investments in maintenance of public space (30) or neighborhood plan (30).
Valls has also placed special emphasis on the social nature of this budget.
