PSC and communes finalize a pact at the Provincial Council of Barcelona

PSC and En Comú Podemos face the final stretch of the negotiations to close an agreement with the Diputació de Barcelona.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
04 July 2023 Tuesday 11:07
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PSC and communes finalize a pact at the Provincial Council of Barcelona

PSC and En Comú Podemos face the final stretch of the negotiations to close an agreement with the Diputació de Barcelona. It is likely that the agreement between the two formations will be announced today, although there were pending fringes yesterday, 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 last accounts; and that Esquerra Republicana be added to the agreement, which for now does not want to know anything about the subject.

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 ones that in corporation have Xavier García Albiol, mayor of Badalona, ​​as leader. This consideration takes place after the election of Jaume Collboni as mayor of Barcelona was thanks to the votes of the PP of Daniel Sirera. "With an electoral campaign in the middle [that of the July 23 general elections] this time is a red line", say sources consulted by En Comú Podem.

The understanding between the two 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 in the Catalan capital, that deprived Xavier Trias of the Barcelona mayorship at the last minute.

In any case, the two formations do not reach an absolute majority, or even a simple majority without the support of another group or 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 de Llobregat.

The knock on the door of the post-convergents has caused complaints from the more 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, agree to explore alternatives to the PSC.

Together, in recent days, he has had contact with several formations, but no alternative agreement has yet been finalized. The intention of Jordi Turull's people 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 presents himself with a local brand. The result of the sum of pro-independence deputies (24), if there are no escapes, is greater than the one launched by a hypothetical PSC and commons pact (22), as long as the PP (4) does not tip the scales. With Vox, which has a representative, no one counts.

The populists say that they have maintained "unconcrete" contacts with various actors and consider that an agreement between socialists and lilacs is not enough to govern the Diputació de Barcelona. "It would be a weak government that will cause instability in the Provincial Council for the next four years and the municipalities of the province will end up paying the consequences", say the popular people.