Never a single deputy gave so much play. Tot per Terrassa, the formation of the mayor of Terrassa, Jordi Ballart, who governs his municipality with ERC and Junts, could be key to the formation of the new government of the Barcelona Provincial Council. For this reason, the two main parties that fight to control the entity, PSC and Junts, are fighting for the vote of their only representative, Maria Mercè Balcells. The PSC had been negotiating an agreement with the mayor for days regarding a document on investments for the municipality, but Junts has also sounded out Ballart, even offering him the presidency of the Provincial Council.
The general secretary of JxCat himself, Jordi Turull, met with the mayor of Terrassa on Monday to try to seduce him and corner the PSC, which has a serious chance of ending up controlling the entity with the support of En Comú Podem, with whom it has already closed an agreement, and with at least two independent deputies attached to Junts.
The post-convergent formation intends to unite a majority with Tot per Terrassa, ERC and the PP, with whom they have also entered into conversations (despite the fact that Junts denies these contacts), but the arithmetic has many obstacles and the reluctance of ERC. The Republicans do not even want to hear about an entente with the PP and question that Junts has control over the deputies of their parliamentary group, in reference to the mayor of Igualada and leader of Junts per Igualada, Marc Castells, and that of Torrelles de Foix and leader of Impulsem Penedès, Sergi Vellès, who would have agreed to an agreement with the PSC. This makes the Republicans wary, who demand to know exactly what support he has in his parliamentary group.
For their part, the popular ones do not want to repeat the formula that allowed Jaume Collboni to take over the mayoralty of Barcelona, ??which is why they have also established contact with the PSC without their having been fruitful for now.
The bait of the post-convergents to seduce Ballart, the presidency of the Provincial Council, would lead to his deputy in the entity resigning from office once assumed in favor of the mayor. But Ballart does not seem to be seduced by the position either and, as he pointed out in a recent interview with La Vanguardia, he prioritizes “accelerating the new Institut del Teatre, improving roads, works and sports facilities” in his municipality.
The socialists are aware of all these “desperate” movements by Junts, which is why they are now suspicious of an entente with Ballart. They consider that the mayor is playing both sides and, therefore, “he does not give a lot of confidence”, they conclude.
And its scarce viability places the negotiations around the government of the Diputación in a frantic scenario, despite which, for now, there is only one certain fact, that the PSC has a pact with the commons that leaves them with 22 deputies from the 51 of the plenary session compared to the 23 of ERC and Junts, which still does not have an agreement between them. If the Socialists manage to retain the “rogue” deputies from Junts, they will take over the presidency, for which they have elected the mayoress of Sant Boi, Lluïsa Moret. Since this route was discovered, Castells and Vallès have maintained a thunderous silence, something that the PSC believes is a “good sign.”
