PSC and En Comú Podem face the final stretch of the negotiations to close an agreement in the Barcelona Provincial Council. It is probable that the agreement between both formations will be announced today, although yesterday there were still pending fringes, according to the sources consulted.
The will of the commons is to enter the government of the supra-municipal body, the third administration in Catalonia in budget management, with more than 1,200 million in the latest accounts, and that the Esquerra Republicana join the agreement, which for now does not want to know anything about the affair.
Those of Ada Colau warn that this time they will not be part of a political operation that counts arithmetically with the PP, whether or not there is an agreement signed with the popular, who in the corporation have Xavier García Albiol, mayor of Badalona, as leader. This consideration comes after the election of Jaume Collboni as mayor of Barcelona took place thanks to the votes of Daniel Sirera's PP. "With an electoral campaign involved [la de las generales del 23 de julio], this time it is a red line," say sources consulted by En Comú Podem.
The entente between both formations, which in the city of Barcelona have been collaborating for several years, materializes after the refusal of Junts to enter into talks with the Catalan socialists after the maneuver of Salvador Illa's men in the Catalan capital, which deprived Xavier Trias from the mayor's office at the last minute.
In any case, the two formations did not reach an absolute majority, not even a simple majority, without the support of another group or of two deputies from other parties. The PSC polled two independents from the Junts per Catalunya group, Marc Castells, mayor of Igualada, and Sergi Vallès, general secretary of Impulsem Penedès and mayor of Torrelles de Foix, to support their candidate, Lluïsa Moret, mayoress of Sant Boi of Llobregat.
The slam of the post-convergents has provoked complaints from the most pragmatic local cadres of the formation, but the management, after a debate in which there were warnings about the risk of being left out of the executive of the supra-municipal entity, agreed to explore alternatives to the PSC.
Junts, in recent days, has had contacts with various formations, but they have not yet materialized in any alternative agreement. The intention of Jordi Turull's men is to reach an agreement with Esquerra and with the mayor of Terrassa, the independent Jordi Ballart, who is not attached to the parties with representation in Parliament and competes with a local brand. The result of the sum of the pro-independence deputies (24), if there are no leaks, is greater than that produced by a hypothetical PSC and common pact (22), as long as the PP (4) does not tip the balance. With Vox, which has a representative, nobody counts.
The popular ones, for their part, assure that they have maintained "inconcrete" contacts with various actors and consider that an agreement between socialists and purples is not enough to govern the Barcelona Provincial Council. "It would be a weak government that will cause instability in the Provincial Council for the next four years, and who will end up paying the consequences will be the municipalities of the province," the popular opinion.
In turn, the PP candidate in the general elections on July 23, Nacho Martín Blanco, defended on Monday in an interview with Europa Press repeating the spirit of Barcelona in the supra-municipal corporation.
