The entry of ERC into Jaume Collboni’s Barcelona municipality, which was about to be materialized last June, is about to be extended for a few more months. The socialist mayor took it for granted this Friday that he does not expect the Republicans to make a decision before the vote of the congress that must renew the party’s leadership and strategy, scheduled for November 30.
“The political map is very loaded,” Collboni said in an interview on Rac1. “We have to wait for the parties to organize their congresses and once they have decided and held their debates, we will see what comes of it,” he said, referring to the congresses planned not only by the ERC, but also by Junts and Comuns in the fall. This is why the socialist councilor defended concentrating for the moment on the preparation of the budgets for 2025 and not talking about government agreements.
Collboni knows that the Republicans are immersed in a turbulent internal process that does not facilitate the resumption of the pact they sealed in June and through which their five councilors were going to enter the Executive. Even sources from the municipal group led by Elisenda Alamany recognize this. “It is important to know how to read political moments and there are currently derivatives of the party at the national level with a clear impact on the calendar and decision-making,” they emphasize. “In Barcelona, no decision has yet been made,” they add.
In this sense, the mayor seems calm and hopes to respond if the congress is brought forward, as Oriol Junqueras wishes, or if it remains until the end of November. “I aspire to articulate a progressive majority, which can be a coalition or a government agreement,” he expressed in Rac1.
After months of conversations from different sides, including the communals of Ada Colau and the Juntas of Xavier Trias, Collboni finally reached an agreement with ERC to add them to the government and thus reach 15 councilors, still far from the absolute majority. However, this commitment was frozen after the activists were unable to approve it due to the poor organization of the party in this vote.
The decision was then frozen amid tensions within the party due to the investiture negotiations of Salvador Illa, on the one hand, and due to the growing internal struggle for the party leadership.
