The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the mayoress of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, held their first institutional meeting in the French capital today in a meeting that has served to strengthen the existing collaboration between the two cities and explore new alliances, according to a statement made public by Barcelona City Council.
Jaume Collboni, accompanied by the commissioner for international relations and promotion of the city, Pau Solanilla, has been invited by the mayoress of Paris to the institutional acts of the National Holiday of France on July 14, where he has attended the military parade on the Champs-Élysées and to the food of the troops that is offered in the City Hall of Paris.
Anne Hidalgo, who in the previous term of the Barcelona City Council cultivated an alliance with the mayor Ada Colau, and Jaume Collboni have agreed to reissue the agreement signed in 2016, which had expired in 2020.
The mayor of Barcelona has affirmed that the new agreement will have to do with the two issues that are of greatest concern in large progressive European cities: the fight against inequalities and against climate change.
“In cities governed by progressive forces and mayors, we are concerned about inequalities and the fight against climate change. The main source of inequality is access to housing for the working middle class and young people, who have to leave," said the mayor of Barcelona.
In this sense, Collboni has reiterated that the municipal government will study the revision of the 30% reserve for social housing and that it has proposed the modification of this norm and its flexibility following the example of Paris, "which allows private investment to flow and that generates resources to promote subsidized housing in the center of the city”.
The Barcelona mayor also highlighted "the good practices of the city of Paris and its global leadership in the fight against climate change and especially in the generation of more urban greenery".
“In Barcelona we have the mandated objective of planting green in the city, the equivalent of 100 new hectares and achieving emission neutrality by 2030, which is the international commitment that Barcelona will make towards 2030”, Collboni stated.
Asked about the Olympic Games that Paris will organize, Collboni stressed that the French capital needs little advice since 2024 will be the third Olympic event organized by the French capital, and that it will do so under criteria of maximum sustainability and the reuse of spaces ”.
"Barcelona -he added- made one of the best Olympic Games in history, not only because of the event itself, but also because of how we have taken advantage of the legacy in terms of Barcelona's reputation and the management of the spaces and equipment that were built" .
Collboni has also highlighted the role played by large European cities at a time of political regression and the rise of the ultra-right.
The highest representatives of Barcelona and Paris have also wanted to share strategies in the main international networks of cities, where it has a leading role. C40 and Eurocities. Barcelona will support the candidacy of the mayoress of Paris to be chosen vice-president of C40, a position held by Ada Colau. Likewise, the two mayors have put on the table the idea of creating a Cities Committee within the EU, similar to the Committee of the Regions but at municipal level.
