The debate on the amnesty heated up Barcelona's until now summer municipal politics this Friday. Once again, as had been the case for some time, sparks flew again in the plenary session of the City Council.
The session approved a proposal from Junts and ERC for the Spanish Cortes to process as soon as possible a law in this regard that basically exempts all those involved in the process. The sovereignty initiative saw the green light thanks to the support of the BComú councilors. Those from the PSC, PP and Vox voted against. In order not to find themselves in this very uncomfortable trio, the socialists tried to agree on an alternative text that was much kinder to Pedro Sánchez and much more critical of Alberto Núñez Feijóo. But seeing that their proposal had no chance of attracting the support of the independentists, they cited procedural issues and withdrew it from the agenda of the plenary session at the last moment. The Popular Party was also clear that their proposal, completely contrary to any amnesty, also had no hope of passing any vote, but they preferred to present it in order mainly to encourage and further stage this passionate debate.
These votes are primarily symbolic in nature, but are by no means trivial. Traditionally different groups try to put the city at the center of all their discussions. But sometimes national issues play crucial roles. The proclamation of 155 broke the first government pact of commoners and socialists, that of Ada Colau's first term, despite the fact that both tried to avoid it, to stay on the sidelines.
After the unexpected, surprising and also virulent proclamation of the socialist Jaume Collboni as the new mayor, Barcelona's political life progressively reduced its intensity. In fact, despite not having more than a dozen councilors, the municipal executive lived a rather placid summer, much more so than his predecessors. The waters had to be allowed to return to their channels. And the negotiations around possible coalition governments are so incipient for now that they hardly generated any reproaches. More or less the same thing is happening with the conversations about the next budgets. The truth is that few politicians move with as much ease in the field of variable geometry as Mayor Collboni. The first municipal commissions already showed their ability to unite with one or another depending on the issue.
But everything related to the process raises blisters, stirs feelings and surpasses strategic issues. And surely the tension on this side of Plaça Sant Jaume would have multiplied if the referendum had been put on the table. Xavier Trias from the Junts benches finished his intervention by distributing swords. He told the socialists that they had disappointed him, once again. To the common people that equidistance is ultimately unsustainable. And to the popular ones, what they will have to do is apologize for trying to destroy him so many times with very bad tricks.
The republican Ernest Maragall also accused the socialist councilors of political weakness and subordination. “It is difficult to understand the silence of the PSC,” he said. The question is how we close the stage of repression and open the stage of democratic solution.”
The popular Daniel Sirera replied verbatim that against the vice of asking is the virtue of not giving. “What happened in Catalonia was very serious,” he said. It caused companies to flee, divided Catalan society, attacked democracy. The right to self-determination does not exist in Catalonia.”
Deputy Mayor Laia Bonet tried to get the socialist executive to more or less tiptoe around these thorny issues and came to say that the path to agreement lies through the proclamation of Sánchez as president of Spain, and that these moments "require prudence." and discretion.”
Then Gonzalo de Oro-Pulido made it clear that Vox will do whatever it takes to guarantee the unity of Spain.
