Xavier Trias and Ernest Maragall, and the negotiating teams of Junts and ERC, left practically closed last night the pact for the two pro-independence formations to govern Barcelona from this afternoon. This morning the militancy of the two parties, in what is expected to be a formality, will ratify the agreement that the candidates have been working on since the day after the elections, an alliance that, except for a very recent capital surprise hour, will allow Trias to regain the mayorship that Ada Colau took from him eight years ago, and to Ernest Maragall, once one of the strong men of the socialist governments of the city, to become number two in the City Council when he assumes the first tenure Only a plot twist in the maneuver that the PSC was still trying yesterday to get the votes of BComú and PP, an operation that was still stuck last night, would prevent the expected outcome.
The principle of agreement has been cooking over the last three weeks on such a slow fire that last night not even those in charge of putting black on white the negotiation dared to consider it completely closed. One of the most complicated resolution issues was that of the first distribution of the government organizational chart, which in principle reserved four mayoral positions for Junts and two for ERC. Those of the formation led by Xavier Trias will be taken over by Neus Munté, Jordi Martí, Damià Calvet and Victòria Alsina, while the Republicans will be occupied by Ernest Maragall and Elisenda Alamany.
Yesterday, the negotiating teams finalized a first programmatic agreement – ??the extensive document of the governing pact could be delayed a few weeks and the definitive document with the distribution of positions and powers will not be ready until the July plenary session – and the outline of the organizational chart which will appear in the first decrees that Trias will sign today if the opponents do not add the minimum of 21 votes that would prevent him from being mayor again.
The areas entrusted to ERC will have, in some way, the presence of councilors from Junts. Republicans could take over part of the social portfolios. According to various sources, Trias will apply the logic to the distribution of functions, so that, for example, the former Minister of Territory, Damià Calvet, will have responsibilities in urban planning and infrastructures; Neus Munté, in policies of a social nature, and also former councilors Victòria Alsina and Ramon Tremosa, issues related to the institutional representation and finances of the City Council. One of Trias’s most trusted people, Jordi Martí Galbis, would play a relevant role in the Security area, and he would remember the role played by Joaquim Forn during the CiU government stage.
Trias and Maragall held another meeting yesterday at the City Council to define the penultimate details of the proposal that their formations will submit today to the ratification of the bases in a process that will take place very few hours before the beginning of the plenary session. ERC has convened a national congress at 10.30 a.m. to debate and give the final approval. The formula chosen by Junts is different: a telematic voting of the militants open from 8 in the morning until two in the afternoon and based on the question: “Do you trust Xavier Trias to negotiate and reach an agreement to get a government of change, progress and well-being in the city of Barcelona with Ernest Maragall and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya?”.
While Junts and ERC were negotiating the investiture agreement, the popular Daniel Sirera, a key piece for the success or failure of any alternative, responded to the celebrations of the PSC and assured again that he will only vote for Collboni’s investiture if undertakes in writing not to incorporate Ada Colau or any BComú councilor into the government. A condition which, added to the so far also unmovable attitude of the commons – they refuse to participate in a pact in which the PP intervenes – makes the alternative to Trias hardly viable, despite the fact that until the beginning of the plenary it is very likely that exhaust the attempts.
