At the start of the political year, the Esquerra municipal group in Barcelona wants to mark territory. “We are in the opposition and we will exercise this role with all the consequences,” its president, Ernest Maragall, said this Friday, who sees no other way to act in the face of what he believes to be the “conservative drift” demonstrated by the socialist mayor Jaume Collboni this summer. with measures that he sees more typical of the right than of a party that considers itself progressive.
Junts and BComú were also the subject of criticism. Maragall has criticized the “shameless race” of both parties “to see who gets to the municipal government first.” Meanwhile, added the group's spokeswoman, Elisenda Alamany, "we have seen that the political action of the summer has been conditioned by the theses of Mr. [Daniel] Sirera." In his opinion, unlike the commoners, "who gave away their votes for nothing and remain silent", the PP, which also supported Collboni's investiture, "seems to have set conditions." Thus, she recalled that the Endreça plan represents a persecution of street vending.
Both Maragall and Alamany have recalled that Collboni is turning his back on performances promoted in the stages that the PSC governed with the commons. As an example, they have given the suppression of the space gained for pedestrians in Pelai, an action that has also served them to attack the formation of Ada Colau because with his support for a socialist mayor's office they are now dismantling his work. Regarding housing policy, they have regretted that the transfer of plots to the Generalitat, which they see as insufficient, comes now, when it could have been done much earlier.
“We, neither useless waiting nor haste,” Maragall stressed. We have not only no obligation, but also no excessive desire to move towards a certain direction.” Esquerra, he has insisted, has set out to "mark the way for progressive policies to be made in this city" basically focused on three points: housing, climate change and rights. The councilor has also defended the pact he reached with Xavier Trias to govern and which was frustrated when Collboni took over the mayor's office. “It may be a work guide,” he said, “but we don't know if Junts has made a mistake.”
Regarding the 2024 budgets and an eventual government pact, Maragall has assured that "there are no conversations, they are future screens that are now far away." "What we will not do -Alamany has warned- will be to exchange cards, or give votes to anyone in exchange for positions", in reference to BComú, which announced that without a government agreement it will not support the accounts.
