The government of Mayor Jaume Collboni accused opposition groups this Wednesday of stopping citizen participation, of rejecting the Municipal Action Plan (PAM) so as not to have to debate it, of torpedoing the work of the City Council for partisan interests...
As expected, the opposition groups overthrew the PAM presented this Monday by the deputy mayor for Urban Planning, the socialist Laia Bonet, in the Presidency commission and at the first opportunity. Junts, PP and Vox voted against. BComú and ERC preferred to abstain. The abrupt end of this procedure has no legal significance. However, it is not trivial. We find ourselves at the most theatrical level of politics, at mutual exhaustion and the search for psychological advantages.
Each in their own way and with a different level of drama, the opposition spokespersons came to emphasize that the socialist executive presented its roadmap for the remainder of the mandate late and poorly, and that on top of that it did so without maintaining any meeting, without trying to redeem their complicity, without sending them a single Whatsapp. In reality, the discussion surrounding the initial approval of the symbolic PAM was nothing more than an excuse for everyone to tell each other what they think again.
Xavier Trias, the winner of the last elections, burst into the debate in an unexpected way, in the moment of responses, scratching his councilor Victòria Alsina for a few seconds to remind the socialists that “we are where we are because you wanted it that way . They did not want to reach any agreement with us and now they do not even call us to talk about the PAM. Think about it.” Yes, it still hurts those of Junts that Collboni snatched the mayor's office from them at the last moment, and also that the executive was not shared afterwards. The popular Daniel Sirera, for his part, could not hold back and described the socialist PAM as a “pamphlet.”
The PSC's counterattack, however, was designed before the groups decided that they would not support its roadmap. In fact, on Monday, in the presentation of the document, Deputy Mayor Bonet announced that the then still hypothetical rejection in this initial procedure would not ultimately alter the government measures of the socialist executive, that its main consequence will be to stop the celebration of a process of citizen participation aimed at allowing residents to finish outlining this guide for the next three years.
And yesterday, in the heat of the exchange of reproaches, Deputy Mayor Bonet insisted on this point. “We present this PAM now because we will soon have budgets and we want to give citizens a voice as soon as possible,” said Bonet. This is a realistic and ambitious roadmap aimed at leading the city's transformation. It is not the first time that a minority government presents a PAM. Both Trias and Colau did so, and then the PSC facilitated its initial processing in order to give citizens a voice. The only thing we wanted to ask of them is that they facilitate the debate, that they allow citizens to speak.” And to highlight the importance of this participation process that will no longer take place, the deputy mayor said that they were willing to extend it for another month, so that it would last up to three. But since the opposition insisted on stopping everything...
Those from BComú and ERC saw the telegraphed socialist bid coming and opted to abstain. In any case, both regretted that the municipal government had not sent them a single WhatsApp message.
