Neither Junts, BComú, ERC, PP and Vox will support this afternoon in the municipal Economy Commission the budget proposal for next year from the executive of Mayor Jaume Collboni. Opposition councilors will block in unison the initial approval of Barcelona City Council's accounts for 2024.
The reasons for this rejection are not found solely in the numbers. The aspirations of some and others to assume government responsibilities also explain this situation. Xavier Trias and Ada Colau really want to determine the action of the Consistory. Their ranks insist on highlighting the municipal government's lack of willingness to dialogue, a complaint that the socialists, in turn, address to the commoners.
Mayor Collboni seems more willing to seek specific support than long alliances, at least for now. The investiture process of Pedro Sánchez as president of Spain is also determining the situation.
The truth is that the scenario seems somewhat unusual, more hostile than initially expected. The initial approval of municipal budgets is usually a procedure for political groups to continue negotiating the Consistory's accounts with a view to their subsequent final approval. In any case, the socialists are not completely between a rock and a hard place. In fact, they have several options: withdraw the item in question from the agenda, try to extend this year's accounts, even consider a question of confidence...
According to various sources consulted by La Vanguardia, the most likely option with just a few hours left before the commission is held is that Collboni opts to try to extend this year's accounts. The mayor seems less likely to submit to a question of confidence. He would surely lose her. A one-month period would then open for opposition groups to present an alternative candidate for mayor. And even more unlikely is that all those councilors could reach such a consensus. In that case, Collboni's budgets would be automatically approved.
The municipal government could also withdraw the initial approval of the budget from the agenda today, at the bell, and buy a little time. The socialists, at least until yesterday, are in favor of the political debate taking place and everyone being publicly portrayed. These days, Mayor Collboni insists whenever he has the opportunity to emphasize that failure to approve the budget in the most orthodox way would jeopardize some 715 million euros in current spending and investments for next year.
The opposition groups denounce that the PSC government has had its own script written for weeks, that they really have no desire to negotiate anything. The truth is that Collboni and Trias maintained a few contacts these days. In fact, it is not unlikely that the councilors of Junts will finally support the tax ordinances, especially after the municipal executive and the Gremi de Restauració reached an agreement yesterday on the suppression of the terrace tax bonus. But these meetings did not end up being fruitful. The sovereigntists want their electoral program to be reflected in the work of the City Council.
The common people also share this objective, if possible even more strongly. They demand a structural pact, are determined to enter the government and regret that Mayor Collboni is so inclined to variable geometry. They also want ERC to enter into this three-way progressive government pact, something that at this moment is not in the minds of the socialists, but neither is it in the minds of the Republicans.
Not even some measures announced by the Deputy Mayor of Economy, Jordi Valls, such as the increase in tax pressure on tourist activities or a substantial increase in social contributions, which the PSC estimates at 14%, have been enough for the common ones give in. In fact, the contacts these days between the teams of Jaume Collboni and the former mayor Ada Colau are being minimal.
ERC, for its part, is in a very complex situation. It is immersed in an internal process of electing the new leadership of the Barcelona federation that will not be resolved until this Friday. The winning candidacy of this process will define the group's roadmap for this mandate and will guide the ship of the Republicans and their relations with the other formations in one direction or another.
Sources from the Republican group indicated yesterday that their vote in the Economy Commission regarding the budget proposal has not yet been decided. However, the same sources also highlighted that the socialists did not show any willingness to negotiate these days, that they in no way tried to seduce them, that they even provided them with their proposal in an adequate manner. Furthermore, Republicans do not quite believe Mayor Collboni's warning that if the budget is not approved in an orthodox manner, the city would be in danger of more than 715 million euros in investments.
And the popular ones, the councilors, are those who made possible the investiture of Collboni as mayor in order to close the way for Colau, who at a given moment considered the possibility of abstaining from voting on the budget proposal, they also showed themselves yesterday more supporters of no. “At the moment no one has contacted us,” they point out from the PP group. Without dialogue there is no agreement.” “It seems that they thought that by now the matter with Sánchez would have been resolved and also with whom. We have the feeling that they do not want to reach any agreement until they know what happens in Spain.”
The two Vox councilors will also vote today against the socialist budget proposal.
