Mayor Jaume Collboni entered the Carles Pi i Sunyer salon yesterday with his eyes on the Republican Elisenda Alamany. She was standing still. Around him, reality was nothing more than a hazy fog. Like in the movies. Then he greeted her, and the two exchanged kisses, smiles and complicity. Then everyone sat on their bench.
Anyone would call the account of this anecdote frivolous, but it explains much better the political situation in Barcelona than the details of the agenda of the last plenary session. The session was so short that the councilors had time to go to lunch. They did not remember such short days in this band of Sant Jaume since the first bars of Ada Colau's first term. One of the drifts of such narrow executives is that they have few measures to put to a vote in plenary sessions. It is not futile. In these contexts, municipal action is greatly reduced.
Socialists and Republicans continue to flirt. Since they announced the pact around the budgets, relations are more cordial than ever. Everyone hopes that they dare to take the big step and sign a government pact soon. Meanwhile, so many displays of courtesy from the mayor are already rarefiing relations with Junts and BComú.
Item number 2 on the agenda was the constitution of a commission to promote the use of Catalan among young people, with special attention to social networks. Republican Alamany enjoyed the first turn to speak, she was in charge of presenting the initiative. In reality, this privilege belongs to the government, even if the commission in question was an ERC idea. The detail did not please the Junts at all. Several points later came the presentation of another commission, the call to combat multi-recidivist criminals. Then, despite the fact that it was the idea of the Junts, it was Albert Batlle, the Deputy Mayor of Security, who was in charge of presenting it. Jordi Martí Galbis, the spokesman for Junts, asked for explanations and underlined the error.
In addition, socialists and commoners tried to get along well throughout the morning, they tried to leave behind the war of declarations of these days between Collboni and Colau. But in the end... In an interview with Betevé, the ex-mayor reproached Collboni for not yet sitting down with her to discuss a possible government pact. And the next day, after a conference at the College of Economists, the mayor replied to Colau that for now, with the communes, the government will only negotiate the budgets.
Despite everything, Janet Sanz, the spokeswoman for BComú, defended in yesterday's plenary a proposal negotiated with the socialist executive aimed at pressuring the tourism industry to use less water. In fact, Sanz thanked the PSC for his proposal.
But at the end of the session, Colau herself, with the Palestinian scarf that she wears so much in the last plenary session, presented a request for the mayor to "decide clearly and contrary to the presence of the Israeli embassy and 'Israeli companies at the Mobile World Congress and that he guarantees that he will not participate in the official greeting or in any other official act linked to this embassy and these companies within the framework of the event". And Collboni adopted a very institutional tone and indicated that he would do what corresponds to him as mayor and president of the Fair, that he will not participate in any boycott.
Despite the fact that Collboni has recently repeated that the City Council will approve the new budgets on March 22, the question of trust remains on the horizon. The socialists have already polled the public about this matter, they have already asked those who handed over the mayorship to them what they would do in this situation. Daniel Sirera, the leader of the Barcelona PP, has no desire to reach this extreme. I would prefer to wrest a few concessions from the PSC and have arguments to support their bills as soon as possible. Despite this, the executive would still not have a sufficient majority... Step by step, says Collboni when asked. And given the rhythms he likes to set in negotiations, the end will be very exciting.
