It is very likely that, in a gesture of good will, from those who are part of the municipal political tradition, next Wednesday, in the Economy Commission of the Barcelona City Council, various municipal groups will give the green light to the processing of the budgets for next year, the first of the Collboni era. It would be a first step to pave the way for a negotiation that, judging by the initial reactions of the spokespersons for the different groups, will not exactly be a procedure for the socialist mayor's team.
The most likely ally of the PSC does not seem, at first, very convinced with the accounts made by the municipal government, despite the fact that some proposals, such as those to increase taxation on tourism, seem designed to obtain the favor of the common people.
The number two of BComú, Jordi Martí, has labeled the draft presented by Valls as “timid”. “He wants to please everyone and he will not please anyone,” stated Ada Colau's lieutenant, who has listed a series of “major absences”: the Amazon tax on home delivery of goods, a tax on telephone antennas mobile or the IBI of large homeowners. With all this, according to Martí, it would be possible to raise the 3,735 million euros budgeted by the socialists to 4,000 million.
BComú sees in the proposal of its former partners “a manifest inability to respond to the needs that the city has today.”
The commons maintain the principle of not negotiating the budget. Their objective is to agree beforehand on a left-wing government in which they also want Esquerra Republicana.
For Collboni, the most viable alternative would be an alliance with the Trias per Barcelona group, the only sum of two that would guarantee an absolute majority. However, an operation of this type has its drawbacks for the mayor. Jaume Collboni took the mayoralty from Xavier Trias, the winner of the elections, and that is not easily forgotten. Furthermore, a budget pact with Junts would annihilate any option for a government agreement with the commons.
In any case, the reaction of the formation led by former mayor Trias does not allow the PSC to see much room for maneuver. “He is only seeking the support of Ada Colau's party,” is the conclusion reached by councilor Ramon Tremosa. “Collboni has preferred to abandon the option of change to continue with the Ada Colau model. And we will not be here,” said Tremosa, who has lamented the “zero willingness to negotiate and agree” demonstrated so far by the municipal government.
Tremosa has given as examples of the things that his group misses in the proposed budgets and tax ordinances: an improvement in the flat tax rate, rectifying the garbage collection rate, including a bonus in the IBI for single-parent families and tax credits to neighbors and economic activities affected by long-term works.
Collboni's budget forecasts are also not to the liking of ERC, which has already asked the PSC to postpone the presentation of the budgets scheduled for the commission next Wednesday if it wants to reach some type of agreement with the Republicans. Ernest Maragall believes that these are the accounts of “a government of minimums that governs under minimums”, a “government without ambition”. The ERC leader considers that “it makes no sense to talk about budgets without the Collboni government explaining what its project is for Barcelona and who it wants to govern with.”
For its part, the PP, which facilitated Collboni's investiture on June 17, does not welcome the first budget proposal either. According to Daniel Sirera, "it seems to have been prepared by Ada Colau" because it "gives continuity to investments as disastrous for the city as the superblocks, the tram union and the reforms of Via Laietana or Ronda Sant Antoni." Likewise, he regrets that "once again the municipal government penalizes tourists who visit us" and consolidates Barcelona as "the city where the highest taxes are paid in all of Spain."
