Mayor Jaume Collboni is redoubling his pressure on opposition groups to approve his municipal budget proposal as soon as possible, next week if possible. But everything indicates that the issue will be resolved in a very different way. Suddenly, yesterday Wednesday at noon, those from Junts and BComú found themselves with the ball in their court and some and others told Mayor Collboni that things are not done that way, that he must first decide with whom he shares the executive and what policies want to develop, and then translate them into a budget.
So, given the latest circumstances, the question of trust as a mechanism for approving the City Council's budgets now does nothing but win. Step by step, is the new slogan and wildcard response of Collboni, who in this way neither confirms nor denies a procedure that as the hours progressed yesterday seemed inexorable. Very few in Sant Jaume know how to improvise with as much ease and self-confidence as the mayor.
The last twist of the socialist was staged at noon in the Saló de Cent of the City Hall. The most solemn office of the Consistory was too large to host the mayor's last press conference. Collboni thus wanted to give a very institutional air to a rather political advertisement. And when he finished his appearance they even played the piece of music that usually accompanies the municipal authorities here on the most special occasions, such as the reading of the proclamation of La Mercè, for example.
And in this way Collboni said that today's government commission will approve the municipal budget proposal already known from the PSC, more or less the same one that the opposition already rejected, and that he hopes that this time the rest of the municipal groups will do so. give the green light to these accounts in an extraordinary Economy commission that will take place next Tuesday so that they can be definitively approved in the municipal plenary session in March.
In this way Collboni would fulfill one of its great objectives already declared months ago, that Barcelona has new accounts in the spring, and thus stops extending the last budget of former mayor Ada Colau. Among Collboni's objectives already declared months ago is also to set up a coalition government with greater room for maneuver. At this time, the municipal executive only has the ten councilors added by the PSC.
And from his platform the mayor wanted to call for the responsibility of the opposition, because although the main novelty of the accounts put back on the table is a 2% increase in income that until now was not foreseen, in these moments Barcelona is entering a new situation, the city is bubbling and cannot afford an administration that does not reinforce this growth and that is not in a position to squeeze its resources to alleviate problems that plague people so much, such as access to housing . We are losing opportunities, the mayor came to say. We're letting a few trains pass, he tried to drop.
Furthermore, although Collboni assured that Barcelona will never be a bargaining chip in any negotiation, he also said that it was necessary to take advantage of the fact that at this time the budgets of the State and the Generalitat are also entering into negotiation. Apparently the planets have never been as aligned as they are now.
But the main opposition groups were not deterred by the mayor's calls for responsibility or by the crucial nature of the current situation or by planetary alignment. Much would have to change in the thirds for the opposition to support Collboni's accounts in just a week. Hence, the issue of trust is now emerging with increasing clarity as the most plausible way to approve municipal budgets.
Those from Junts and those from BComú raised their eyebrows yesterday in unison, each in their own way. Some and others were quick to point out that they do not see the convenience of putting bills that have already been rejected back on the table, that what the socialists have to do is opt for one side or the other, establish a government with a base and a very wide margin of maneuver that establishes clear political objectives that in the end will be defined and specified in municipal budgets that are not those that are currently on the table.
From the point of view of Junts and BComú, of their representatives Jordi Martí Galbis and Janet Sanz, Collboni first has to decide which side he leans towards, who he wants to govern with, with Junts or with BComú. Because both are determined to assume government responsibilities, to have their electoral programs determine municipal action, and neither is willing to waste the supposed weakness of the socialist executive. Martí stressed that Collboni has to decide whether he opts for the will for change that Barcelonans expressed at the polls or subscribes to the recipes of the past that have already been rejected. And Sanz insisted that Barcelona needs a progressive government that consolidates the achievements of previous mandates, and that she is concerned about the PSC's willingness to live off Colau's income and inheritance. Curiously, those from ERC stood in profile yesterday and did not enter the fray. The Republicans, who at the time also rejected the socialist budgets, are the ones who currently have the best chance of entering the municipal government.
But Collboni is handling his supposed weakness with great ease. It does not need more councilors to erase graffiti, keep the garbage containers in good condition and attend to many other daily issues that greatly determine the neighborhood mood. Hence the question of trust seems so inexorable. He was asked about this question twice at the solemn press conference and on both occasions he avoided answering. Step by step, he says. If in the coming days the PSC does not obtain the necessary support and its accounts are rejected in the extraordinary Economic Commission next week, Collboni will be forced to resort to the question of confidence. Then Collboni will call an extraordinary municipal plenary session, and if it continues without the necessary support he will have to resort to the question of trust. In that case, a period of 30 days would be opened for opposition groups to present a candidate for mayor, something unlikely given the correlation of forces. The bills would be automatically approved in April, as the mayor promised.
