Colau, JxCAT and ERC fight for the icing on the cake to invest Sánchez: a coalition with the PSC in Barcelona

The negotiation for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez has alerted both Ada Colau and the commons as well as ERC. Both want to be members of the PSC in Barcelona City Council and both fear that the current mayor, Jaume Collboni, has reserved the site for another key partner to make Pedro Sánchez president: Carles Puigdemont's JxCAT. So the decision must be delayed to match it with the pace of the talks in Madrid for the governability of Spain. Collboni is aware that Barcelona cannot be governed with the 10 councilors it currently has and the council now stands out as the icing on the cake that all forces are after.

Ernest Maragall, councilor in Barcelona for ERC, said this Monday on Catalunya Ràdio that his party does not rule out entering the city council “and what happens in Madrid must be followed carefully”. Maragall added that he would like to have representation on the municipal Government Board, but “that we are not in as much of a hurry as Ada Colau”. In an interview with EFE last week, Colau urged Collboni not to fall asleep when choosing a partner.. “We will not give you a blank check,” warned the leader of the Barcelona group in the Catalan capital, also demanding that the socialist mayor clarify “what model of city he has”.

“He alone cannot govern, with 10 councilors it is impossible to govern Barcelona, or approve budgets, or do anything,” said the former councilor. “He can hold out for a few months, he will have to make pacts and choose between the model of the city of JxCAT and Xavier Trias” or that of a “left-wing pact”, added Colau, who resumes his campaign idea during the municipal elections of forming a tripartite for Barcelona.

In any case, all the sources consulted, both in JxCAT and in ERC or the commons themselves, agree that choosing a partner for the municipal government of the first city of Catalonia is not a core issue of the negotiation for the investiture, but just the icing on a cake that will still take time to bake. The problem is that Jaume Collboni needs to approve municipal budgets before December 31, something that is key for the city. The risk is that the calendars end up overlapping.

fear of being left out

The fear of Colau and ERC is to stay out of the government team. In the case of the Republicans, somewhat less, because in Barcelona and Catalonia everyone is well aware that the last thing on the PSC's list of priorities is to give Ernest Maragall a job, due to his long and ancient militancy in the game. Another thing would be for Pasqual Maragall's younger brother to be appointed to another position, as ERC seemed to have done when it sent him as number two to the Senate in these last elections, a position for which he ultimately did not get enough votes..

JxCAT is the favorite partner for Catalan businessmen, who still have the dream of what is called sociovergence, but everything will depend on the conversations that are held with Carles Puigdemont for the investiture. Something that will take months and that now starts from very distant positions. Initially, in Junts they raised the situation as a vendetta because Trias had lost the mayoralty. Thus, in reciprocal justice, Pedro Sánchez would be unable to renew his mandate in Moncloa and elections would have to be repeated. If in the end there was a change, which seems very unlikely, the entry of those from Trias into the municipal government would compensate the junteros, who are short of financial resources after being left out of all the Catalan councils, except Girona.

the common ones remain

With all these conditions, the common ones remain. They are Collboni's natural partner, they need to govern in the mayor's office to survive as a party in Catalonia and Yolanda Díaz has already guaranteed her support for Sánchez at the investiture. They are the safe partner, which, on the one hand, makes them more uncomfortable waiting for how the conversations with JxCAT are resolved. On the other hand, instead, it leads them to put pressure on Collboni to give them way, thus blocking the way for their competitors..

Thus, Jaume Collboni is once again at the center of all the debates despite the fact that he only came second in the municipal elections. That did not prevent him from winning the mayoralty (thanks to the support of the PP) and now fate offers him more cards to play a role in these decisive months that await Spanish politics.