If he Barcelona municipal plenary session would have been played at the Palau Blaugrana, without a doubt the government formed by ‘comuns’ and socialists would have ended the basketball game with a triple double, that is to say, with figures of those of throwing the mike to the ground. With an opposition that does not finish finding the strategy, although he is shaping it, and less than a year and a half of the May 2023 elections. In the last conclave of 2021, the bipartisan has raised three delicate issues: the budgets of the next exercise and the modifications of the terrace ordinance and the plan that regulates tourist accommodation. And it was done with an equitable distribution of the cake, with the socialists brandishing an economic success and the bench of Ada Colau, with the defense of housing and the funnel imposed on tourism.
The plenary session began with a minute of silence in memory of all the victims of sexist violence. Nothing for 15 seconds and a little bit of ‘Reapers‘, it has been 60 seconds of absolute respect, as the debate has also been considered throughout the session, far from the dialectical brawl that reigns in other chambers. Even when there has been talk and debate from the ideological antipodes about the language immersion and the arguments already presented in Parliament have been reproduced, but without going down into the mud. “The Catalan school does not deserve certain shows “, has summarized Ernest Maragall. The ERC leader has been less liturgical when he has intervened to confirm the abstention of his municipal group at 2022 accounts, result of the change of stickers between Colau and the ‘president’ Pere Aragonés, between the stability of the Generalitat and that of the Barcelona City Council.
Government “nuisance”
The pro-independence vote for the budget, which exceeds 3,400 million, 33% more than in 2015, has turned out to be irrelevant, since Barcelona for Change, the formation of the resigned Manuel Valls That allowed Colau to seize the mayoralty precisely from Maragall, has voted in favor of the proposal, with which the absolute majority was already reached: 21 votes from 42 councilors. Perhaps that is why the veteran Esquerra councilor has stressed that the accounts are not approved thanks to his group, which did facilitate the two previous budgets but this year it was time to start the offensive, even more so if Maragall himself wants to repeat as a candidate. His abstention, he specified, is explained by the need to “have resources that come from the Government of Catalonia“, an attempt to get away from some accounts that, in his view, reflect” the lack of orientation and a project beyond good intentions. “This government” is no longer interesting and is a hindrance, “he added. Together for Catalonia, on the other hand, who supported accounts of past years, seems to confirm his firm will to exercise harsh opposition to the Colau-Collboni binomial. Its ‘no’ to budgets, in the words of Elsa Artadi, is a “total amendment to government policy and management.” I mean, all wrong.
The budgets have inflated the locker of both the socialists and the ‘commons’. From there, the distribution of points has begun. First, with the modification of the terrace ordinance, a field where the PSC and the first deputy mayor camp, Jaume Collboni, subscriber to everything that has to do with the economic growth of the city. The consolidation of the watchmen added in times of pandemic has been approved, the elimination of the controversial ‘new jersey’, the cement barriers symbol of the tactical urbanism, more inspection of illegal sidewalk tables has been promised and will not be allowed to grow in places already mined by chairs, such as Enric Granados, Parliament or the Rambla del Poblenou. That it is a postulate more of the socialists than of the heirs of ICV is demonstrated by the result of the vote: it would be very difficult for all the parties, except ERC, which has voted against, to abstain from a proposal of terraces with the Barcelona DNA in Comú. Or to put it another way, it seems that if he were in the opposition, Colau would have voted, like Esquerra, ‘no’ to consolidate 1,400 new terraces.
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The compensation has come with the update of the special urban plan for tourist accommodation (PEUAT) which, in short, will allow rent rooms for a period of less than 31 days to those people who have a tourist apartment license and renounce it. Or what is the same, the regulations make it practically impossible rent a room to strangers they are passing through. Esquerra has voted in favor together with the government, while the rest of the forces have positioned themselves against it, among other things, because, they maintain, the Generalitat has approved a decree that does allow this economic activity. In any case, three out of three in the approval of relevant matters in this full placid for the governmentWho knows if transition to the opposition.
The main works of the 2022 budget
The 3,407 million budget goes a long way, but a good part of that money goes to current spending, that is, to the machinery that allows the city to function (public salaries, cleaning, security, transport, mobility …). There remains, however, 750 million for new investments, the amount that the city could not invest if the accounts were extended. This includes money to restore the Hivernacle de la Ciutadella (2 million), the reform of the Meridiana (4 million), the urbanization of the first phase of the tram on the Diagonal (9.5 million), the transformation of Via Laietana (15 million), the first measures of the reform of the Rambla (three million), the expansion of the Sant Martí superblock (20 million euros) or the first green axis of the Eixample, in Consell de Cent (another 20 million) .
The plenary session has also addressed the continuity of Primavera Sound in the city, after its promoters threatened a week ago with the possibility of going to another city. The Councilor for Culture, Jordi Martí, has assured that they are working so that the festival can continue to be held in Barcelona, and that the problem is the fit of the request of the organizers, who want to consolidate what is planned for 2022, that is , a session of two weekends. The mayor of Barcelona en Comú has assured that the negotiation is “well channeled” and that the idea is that the proposal is sustainable from the point of view of mobility, security and inconvenience to the neighbors around the Forum. Ada Colau has also shown her “full confidence” in the continuity of Primavera Sound and that at the same time it does not generate “negative externalities” to the neighbors.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com