The mayoralty is at stake and also the majorities that can be locked as of Sunday. The tie drawn by the polls has resulted in the last debate of the campaign in a greater dialectical tension between the mayors of the seven formations with representation in the City Council. Ada Colau has been the main target of criticism, criticism that she has not spared when questioning Collboni’s reliability, while Trias has assumed the role of the proposed change without excessive stridency.
With 45 seconds to present the city model, the debate has started with great intensity. Ernest Maragall (ERC) has claimed leadership “that does not depend on Moncloa”; Ada Colau (BComú) has shown off her model of the city, “we have to decide if we continue advancing or going backwards”; Jaume Collboni (PSC) has opted for “a new Barcelona of economic opportunities and to recover pride” and Xavier Trias has also referred to the need to recover pride based on the fact that the city “does not work and we want a Barcelona safe, orderly, green and clean and that generates hope”.
Anna Grau (Ciudadanos) has marked the distances from the beginning, “there cannot be a greater antagonism between Colau and Grau”, thus competing with Eva Parera (Valents) who has drawn Barcelona as the city of occupations and a forceful Daniel Sirera : “Barcelona is the dirtiest city in Spain and where taxes are higher, we want economic growth and not decrease. We want a Barcelona that works”. Throughout the debate these three candidates have alternated their sentences in Catalan and Spanish.
Presented the city model, the debate has been structured in blocks: Mobility and sustainability; security and cleanliness; Economy, Tourism and Housing. Topped all this with the minute of rigor to ask the spectators for their vote. Ciudadanos, PP and Valents agreed on the diagnosis of the city and the tone of criticism. In terms of mobility, Trias has insisted that “we all want to calm traffic, but consensus must be sought, you -referring to Colau- have turned mobility into a problem and have been unable to correct what does not work and Collboni has helped; now he is being confused but Mr. Collboni is Colau’s altar boy”.
Maragall has said that “there is an elephant in the room that is Rodalies and Collboni, fail to shut up and obey, as always”. The socialist mayor lamented that “the debate is all against the PSC and in this scuffle and attacks common sense must be imposed, reduce emissions, promote more accessible mobility and a just ecological transition.” At this point, the mayoress asked the socialist mayor if he is willing to end the tram, to which Collboni has agreed, Colau has added that “covering the rounds will not end pollution.”
The tension has been maintained when dealing with security in the city, during which there has been a confrontation of figures about the agents deployed and to be deployed and also when dealing with cleaning.
In the debate on the economic model, Collboni has raised the flag of the City Council, “I am very proud of the work carried out in this area, without us there would be no Mobile until 2030, nor an America’s Cup, nor the new great international congresses and now what What we have to do is bring back the companies that left during the independence process”. Colau has replied “that it is ugly that he enters and leaves the government even in the same bloc, we have done all this that he has said together.”
