1693196304 Collbonis folder in his first year as mayor budgets pact

Collbonis folder in his first year as mayor: budgets, pact, La Rambla or reporting on the Ronda

Jaume Collboni BarcelonaFinal phase of works for the Barcelona tram on the diagonal between Glòries and Verdaguer. Collboni has not made it clear what route he advocates to get to Francesc Macià.massiliano minocri

The Mayor of Barcelona, ​​​​​​Jaume Collboni (PSC), at the beginning of his first term in office, has a priority to get support for the 2024 budget. With only 10 out of 41 councillors, he will bill an eventual government pact for whoever gives priority to “progressive” parties. Among the issues that mark the beginning of the course are also the Socialists’ support for the reform of the Rambla, the coverage of the Ronda de Dalt or the relaxation of the requirement that developers must use 30% of the floors they build for social housing. The following folders will mark the political course in Barcelona.

The accounts of 2024. “The budget is already a pact,” the mayor replies when asked whether he will initially focus on next year’s bill or on involving partners in government. There have not yet been any formal discussions on the budget or an exchange of papers, but the plan is to bring the process to the first approval in the Commission or in plenary in October. Since the main festival, La Mercè, takes place at the end of September, municipal political activity in Barcelona officially begins only then.

A “governance or governability” pact and Colau are pending. The integration of the partners in Barcelona will have to wait until the result of the Spanish government after the elections in July. Collboni now speaks of a “governance or governability pact”, implying that he could include parties in the executive or agree to a stable agreement from outside the government. In addition, he makes it clear that his ‘bet’ is ‘that it will be progressive’, which includes the local councils (nine councillors) and the ERC (five). Junts won the May elections with 11 councilors and its consistory leader, Xavier Trias, summoned Collboni ahead of the holidays to decide who to agree with. Just like the former mayor Ada Colau, with whom Collboni has governed for almost six years, as a minority force. Socialist sources add that the optimal scenario for a government pact would be that the two parties have decided who will be replaced by their leaders Colau and Ernest Maragall, who they are sure will leave the city council. Having been the city government’s most stable external partner in the last legislature, Maragall is now not ruling out joining the executive branch. Trias has made it clear that he will not remain at City Hall.

Jaume Collboni and Councilor Rosa Alarcón during the election campaign in the Ronda de Dalt, which he assured will be given priority coverage.Jaume Collboni and Councilor Rosa Alarcón during the election campaign in the Ronda de Dalt, which he assured will be given priority coverage.

La Rambla and coverage of the Ronda de Dalt. Continued coverage of the Ronda de Dalt (1.5 kilometers with a population of 30,000) is a campaign promise made by Collboni and is also one of his commitments in the first 100 days of his tenure. The work, estimated at 300 million euros over 12 years (three terms), would amount to 25 million per year, a number the mayor sees as “acceptable” and which could be eligible for next-generation funds . Junts’ Xavier Trias also defends them. The idea is to advertise it in 2024, he said during the election campaign. In the case of La Rambla, he promised right at the beginning of his term of office that the planned construction period would be reduced from six to three years. He needs political support for both issues.

Courtesy Decree and Pla Endreça. Courtesy, cleanliness and safety were the cornerstones of Collboni’s campaign, and he promoted them even when he ruled with Colau as deputy mayor. Now he promises to review the Citizens’ Ordinance (for now, he’s increased fines for painting or urinating on the street), a text yet to be approved in plenary. And he did the rest with Pla Endreça [Plan Ordena], with more troops and controls in the cleaning service, and more city police and Mossos and a ubiquitous communication campaign on banners, bus and subway stations or kiosks. It remains to be seen what the results will be and if they will translate into community polls, where people in Barcelona have pointed to insecurity and cleanliness as key issues in recent years.

What affects most is what happens closer. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

subscribe to

30% and the drama of the house. From September, the city government will deal with the reform of urban planning regulations, pushed by its predecessor Ada Colau, which obliges developers to allocate 30% of the floors of buildings over 600 square meters for social housing (new construction or major renovations) . Collboni wants to reform a rule he voted for when it was passed in 2018, but which he says isn’t working as it is getting “very modest results”. His proposal is to free developers from the obligation to mix open-market and public housing in the same building, and let them pay the city council to build those housing. The community strongly opposes this, as the underlying philosophy is to flood all neighborhoods with social housing. Collboni relies on the support of Junts and ERC, who are also supporters of the reform. In addition to the new construction, Barcelona wants to be the first Spanish city to regulate rental prices, as provided for by the Spanish housing law passed before the summer.

The President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragones, welcomes Mayor Jaume Collboni on the day of his inauguration.  The Socialists are demanding from the government the commitments made with Barcelona.The President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragones, welcomes Mayor Jaume Collboni on the day of his inauguration. The Socialists are demanding from the government the commitments made with Barcelona. Albert Garcia

The bilateral treaty with the Generalitat is still pending. A meeting with the government of Pere Aragonès was scheduled before the summer. Collboni made his debut by paying tribute to the ERC government and reminding Aragonès that the PSC’s support for the Generalitat’s budget came with a commitment to invest €340 million in the Catalan capital. The figure is almost 10% of the municipal budget (3,600 million). In the areas of public transport (especially the metro), security, health, public services … and also the convening of the technical commission between administrations, which will have to decide how to increase the capacity of Barcelona Airport. The meeting was scheduled to take place after the department’s plenary meeting, which was postponed to July 28, and was still pending.

Unknown about the tramway or the cycle path of the Via Augusta, heritage of the Commons. Ahead of the holidays, Collboni expressed doubts about the future of two mobility infrastructures that carry Colau’s legacy. One of them is the tram that is being built on the Diagonal to inaugurate the section between Glòries and Verdaguer in spring. Faced with the voices emphasizing the value of completing the tram crossing along Provença and Urgell streets and the excitement this caused, Collboni declared in a radio interview: “We will come to Verdaguer and then see how the connection will be made”. ” In the Last electoral term, the then mayoress and the government announced that they were leaving the courses to advertise the arrival of Francesc Macià via the diagonal In the case of the Via Augusta cycle path, built with civic participation, but located in a neighborhood in the upper area which is a haven for cars (there are 444 passenger cars per thousand residents), complaints led to Collboni commissioning a study to “reassess.” The prospect of a turnaround is prompting the city’s bike collectives to dig up the hatchet.

The Via Augusta bike path in Barcelona.The Via Augusta bike path in Barcelona.massiliano minocri

You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya on Facebook and Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter