The municipal budget proposal of the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni passed its first procedure in the extraordinary Economy Commission this Tuesday thanks to the support of the councilors of ERC and BComú. Step by step, as Mayor Collboni likes to say lately. But the final approval of the Barcelona City Council accounts is still blurry. If Collboni does not sign a government pact with former mayor Ada Colau in 30 days, the commons will overthrow the socialist proposal in the final vote that will take place in the plenary session on March 22.
The mayor thus faces a dilemma: continue governing as a minority and approve his budgets through a matter of confidence or share the executive with his former partners. We talk about breaking up the government. The socialists have 10 councilors and BComú, 9. The common people are not going to settle for the Free Time department. Politics make strange bedfellows, and their divorces even stranger. The last Economy commission illustrated the new correlation of feelings between the political forces represented in the City Council.
The new couple is PSC and ERC. They are in that moment when you like everything about the other. Their pact around budgets reveals that the flirting is behind them, that this is serious, that they can move in together at any time. A government of 15 councilors is like a couple of mileuristas. Give just enough to get ahead. In any case, they are not in a hurry. Republican Elisenda Alamany made it clear on TV. And as long as everything stays at home, a Barcelona approach prevails and outside relatives do not interfere, everything can go well.
“I want to thank ERC for its willingness to dialogue,” said the deputy mayor for Economy, the socialist Jordi Valls. Intangibles are important in politics, and this pact involves commitment, fidelity and loyalty.” And addressing the commoners, Valls added that “an agreement is proof of trust, and it seems that we do not have it, that you only take into account your city model.”
The fatigue between socialists and commoners is evident, so much so that at times it causes discomfort to others, like when you have dinner with a couple who never stops throwing hints at each other. Suddenly all that time together seems bitter. Weren’t there good years? Was everything always mistrust? And if on top of that your mother comes to live with us then there is no possible reconciliation. Yes, the mother in question is Ada Colau. Furthermore, her willingness to move is not even clear. Could the former mayor become Jaume Collboni’s first deputy mayor? In this case, in a paradoxical way, the distribution of responsibilities that a government agreement entails rather recalls the distribution of objects that the end of a relationship entails.
“We have been without a budget, direction or project for more than eight months,” said Janet Sanz, BComú spokesperson. Barcelona does not deserve this irresponsibility. We give them the last chance. We will allow the processing of budgets, we will exercise responsibility. But everything has limits. “They won’t have us to waste our time.”
And then there are those from Junts, the winners of the last elections suddenly relegated to the thankless role of the spiteful. It feels bad for Collboni, because he has a good relationship with Xavier Trias, but not so much with those who accompany him. The socialists made them understand yesterday that despite the vote against their accounts, they do not hold any grudges against them and are counting on them for the future.
And those from Junts crossed their arms and wrinkled their brows, but they know well what this is all about and they are not willing to make their eleven councilors irrelevant. Elections are much more than the proclamation of the king and queen of the high school prom. Despite the spite, Junts is not going to give up directly influencing the actions of the City Council. Furthermore, at this moment those in Trias who are viewed with the worst eyes are the Republicans.
“If these budgets were so good, why did they withdraw them? –said Junts councilor Ramon Tremosa–. Now ERC votes in favor of the PSC budgets. Obviously ERC can agree with whoever it wants, but that is said before the elections, otherwise it is a fraud. Trias said that he could make an agreement with the PSC and with ERC, but the PSC is showing that it never had the intention of making an agreement with Junts. And Tremosa recommended that the Republicans be careful, since in the elections they went from ten to five councilors.
Then there are those from the PP, regretting their summer adventure with the PSC. They supported Collboni’s investiture so that the city did not fall into the hands of the Waterloo independentists, and now the socialist settles his accounts with the republicans. The popular ones did not expect this drift. Right now they feel more distant than ever from the socialists.
Despite everything, in this delicate balance of emotions, we still find a common point of understanding. Nobody pays attention to those from Vox. In fact, every time someone from this group intervenes, the rest have no problem sharing smiles and knowing glances.
