eva Parera heads a party with a municipalist vocation that is just over a year old. Valents will be presented in May in 150 municipalities, also in Barcelona, ??where Parera entered in 2019 with Manuel Valls. In the last Generalitat elections, he ran as an independent with the PP and left Parliament in January to focus on the race for mayor.
Where is Valens located? Is it more to the right of the PP?
I don’t like to be located in a space, I prefer to be in the center. Everyone is here. What defines us are the proposals we make in each municipality. In one year we have attracted people who came from the PP, Cs or the PSC.
Are you worried about the fragmentation of the so-called constitutionalist vote?
The problem in Catalonia is that the vote for constitutionalism is not fragmented, it is unified at home. The electorate of Cs and PP does not feel represented by them or by the pro-independence forces. They expected a political force such as Valents to appear.
He assures that he will not do as Valls did. What are its essential programmatic axes?
The will of Valents is to be decisive to be in the municipal government. The programmatic lines are clear: first, act very strongly against insecurity and illegal occupations. We are experiencing a problem that everyone is turning their back on and no one is doing anything about. Order and civility must be restored to the city. In the economic aspect, reverse everything. We are degrading Barcelona in a way that will be difficult to recover from. Now everything is a continuous no and the administration must work for the yes.
Beyond denying Colau’s policies, what is his model?
Start managing positively. The Administration must take a step back. Today the message is that I don’t trust you, I know more than you and I tell you how to move and work. We must allow those who want to open a business to be able to do so with little bureaucracy, low costs, subsidizing self-employed quotas, fast licenses in 48 hours… We must tell real estate developers that we want them to come. It is necessary to understand that Barcelona is touristic, not just to put obstacles in the way.
Should tourism be regulated?
No. Tourism represents more than 15% of GDP. It generates economic activity and economic activity generates jobs. We cannot believe in an Administration that only creates civil servants. This is unsustainable and leads us to absolute bankruptcy. The Administration must facilitate economic recovery by allowing companies to create jobs. We have also seen it, when we were confined we saw a dead city.
And doesn’t that force you to look for alternatives to tourism?
Because? The automotive sector, the tourist sector, the cultural sector, the small trade sector can coexist here… Barcelona’s big problem compared to other European cities is that we don’t have a definitive project. We want to be a Barcelona brand, in many different areas.
Does the America’s Cup represent that this understanding is possible?
Yes, but the problem is that the City Council does not understand that the private sector is an ally and treats it as an enemy. It already happened with Mobile.
Will the tram work be finished?
They shouldn’t have started. Unfortunately, we will have to see what the cost is to reverse it, but it should not be between Francesc Macià and Verdaguer. It is a terrible idea from ERC with a cost that we cannot afford. Fast axes have been loaded. They destroyed the Cerdà plan. The Eixample superilla has devastating collateral effects and must disappear. Luckily, we still have time to reverse it.
Which of your proposals is non-negotiable?
We need to talk about how the police are managed, who today are locked up in police stations for political instruction. Call the police on the street. Lowering taxes is also essential. It is necessary to revert whether or not the regulations prohibiting builders. And yes, yes and yes immediate to deal with illegal occupations. It’s a plague that’s plaguing the city and it can’t be afforded. We must stop sending the message that crime is free, that occupation is free.
