The PSC and ERC have closed this Monday an agreement on the Barcelona budget that clears the way for its approval, although the green light is still pending to add any other formation, since the socialists and republicans do not reach the absolute majority. Shortly before the pact was announced, Ada Colau, the hypothetical partner, had issued an ultimatum to the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni. The commons will not stop the processing of the socialist proposal for municipal budgets in the extraordinary Economy Commission to be held tomorrow, Tuesday. But if they do not sign a government pact in 30 days, they will be overthrown at the time of the final vote.
The spokesperson for the BComú municipal group, Janet Sanz, explained that “this is the last opportunity we are giving to Mayor Collboni's government. Nobody considers that the budgets can move forward if it is not at the hands of a left-wing and progressive government. "It's what the city needs."
A few hours after BComú made its ultimatum public, the ERC group appeared to report on the agreement reached with the PSC to process the budget. The votes of the 5 Esquerra councilors are not enough in any case to be able to approve this year's accounts.
The Republican party has committed to supporting the budget in exchange for including a series of compensations. Among them are the creation of a fund of 5 million euros to support entrepreneurship in the city and expand the Prometeus program to facilitate access to university for young people from highly vulnerable neighborhoods; 10 million for the urban transformation of the Besòs neighborhoods; another 10 million from the tourist tax surcharge in the Barceloneta neighborhood, as a social return plan for the Copa del América; the creation of the Catalan Language Office, a space to provide assistance to citizens in linguistic matters; the development of T-Cultura, a card that facilitates access to public cultural offerings, especially in Catalan, at affordable prices; a plan to protect local and emblematic commerce; an increase in investment in housing to build 1,000 public apartments; a support item for those affected in cases of real estate harassment and real estate scams; or 15 million to make the city "more walkable" with street pacification actions, such as the pending reform section of Balmes Street.
The entente between socialists and republicans contrasts with the tense relationship that PSC and BComú continue to maintain. The common people understand that the ERC councilors must also join this left-wing government. In fact, Sanz has also insisted on this aspect. In this way, the new executive would have a clear majority of councilors that would multiply his governing capacity. At this time, the socialist executive barely has the support of its ten councilors.
A few days ago, Mayor Collboni himself put the approval of his municipal budget proposal back on the table, accounts that were already rejected by the groups a few months ago. He then convened an extraordinary Economic Commission and implied that the opposition, once again stopping them, would get them through this spring through a matter of trust.
Both BComú and Junts were very critical of the mayor's ways, and pointed out that what the socialists had to do is decide who they want to govern with, what type of policies they want to carry out, and that then they will see how to shape them. into concrete measures through the definition of municipal budgets.
In recent weeks, the Socialists and Republicans have increased their contacts with the aim of sealing a government pact, but these conversations have not yet materialized into any concrete agreement. These days, however, while BComú and Junts publicly redoubled their pressure on the Collboni government, those of ERC preferred to remain very discreet. This afternoon they will hold a press conference.
