Finishing banishing once and for all the practice of top manta from the streets and squares of Barcelona is one of the priorities of the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni for the remainder of the mandate. And the long-awaited reform of the city's civility ordinance constitutes, in his opinion, a fundamental step. The municipal government announced today that it is confident that the new text will come into force at the end of next year.
Albert Batlle, Deputy Mayor for Security, has presented to opposition groups the ways in which the executive hopes to update a norm intended to guarantee coexistence that dates back to 2006. Everyone agrees that this text requires an update. This is an issue that has been pending for a long time. But the consensus regarding the treatment that the new ordinance will give to the manteros is not so clear.
The path of this long-awaited reform will be much more complicated than Batlle has implied. The determination with which the socialist government wants to tackle some endemic phenomena that tarnish public space, mainly unauthorized street vending, may encounter many obstacles in the plenary session of the City Council.
For months now, the Urban Police have been redoubling their pressure on the manteros. Alternative movements describe this campaign as racist. They say that they treat people who are only trying to make a living as criminals, a discourse that has always found an echo more or less among ordinary people and Republicans. And lately these sellers are moving faster than ever, in smaller and smaller groups, from one enclave to another, on the subway, from Casa Batlló to Barceloneta, to sell a pair of sneakers and get out before the police arrive. municipal. Hence, for some time now it has been so easy to find them with their blankets closed in the stations of Catalunya, Passeig de Gràcia, Barceloneta...
Political groups agree that the City Council must find a way to collect fines from drunk tourists who happily urinate in the streets. Another much thornier issue is the treatment that the City Council gives to the manteros and other groups in complicated situations. The criminalization of poverty has been one of the most controversial aspects of the current civility ordinance for decades.
The deputy mayor hopes to soon have a broad political and neighborhood consensus, that the proposal to modify the rule will be approved by the government commission during May, thus starting a process that should conclude with its final approval in November. Meanwhile, the City Council will set up a participatory process open to entities and neighbors.
Furthermore, this reform comes at a very complicated political moment. As the tough negotiations around tax ordinances and the upcoming budgets revealed, opposition groups are not willing to make things easy for the socialists.
Above all, BComú and Junts are determined to assume government responsibilities, and their support for the municipal government is becoming more expensive every day. Both want their electoral programs to determine the City Council's action. And the ERC councilors show no intention of being part of a government led by the PSC, nor of providing their support for free. In fact, they plan to exercise very tough opposition, increasingly more so every day. ERC is committed to reforming the civility ordinance. It was proposed by the Presidential commission in September. But it remains to be seen if on the same terms as the municipal government. The Republicans have already shelved those very collaborative ways of the previous mandate.
In truth, Mayor Collboni would like to continue governing alone, making agreements with one or another depending on the circumstances. He is comfortable with variable geometry. But the pressure from the left and the right grew so much in recent weeks that already in the previous plenary session, faced with the possibility of having to extend its first budgets, Collboni opened the door to agreeing on the governability of the Consistory. These conversations have not yet begun. Both Junts and BComú have regretted today that the mayor has not yet taken the second step, continuing in the field of gestures.
The investiture of Pedro Sánchez and the reform of the civility ordinance can accelerate the negotiations on the governability of the Consistory... or finish blowing them up... This update is one of the legs of the Pla Endreça aimed at shining a light on the public space. In fact, months ago the Urban Police officers were instructed to make the strictest possible reading of the current regulations and thus apply the highest penalties, especially with regard to alcohol consumption, peeing, the daubs...
Batlle has also detailed that at the end of September the technical commission designated to start this process was established, led by the Security Manager, María Casado. Then six subcommittees were formed in charge of different areas, the review of the texts still in force, the study of new behaviors to be regulated not foreseen in 2006, the development of a more effective fine collection procedure, the review of the amounts of sanctions, the inclusion of gender perspectives and also the consideration of the most vulnerable groups and the alternative measures to the fines from which they could benefit. “We have technicians from all areas of the City Council working on this,” Batlle stated. We are at the beginning of the process. We hope to be able to add all the sensitivities.”
