Not even 24 hours have passed since the alliance between the Comuns (Barcelona en Comú) and the PP (People's Party) made Jaume Collboni mayor of Barcelona, and we are now getting to know the price that Ada Colau's political group has exacted. The new Catalan Socialist (PSC) mayor revealed this Sunday that he plans to maintain the structure and managers that the Comuns had in the city council, arguing that he is not sectarian. It is true that politics makes strange bedfellows and, as an example, look at some municipal pacts that have been signed in Catalonia, but the case of Barcelona is very particular because of its importance. And it's also very revealing.
In the end, this left wing led by Ada Colau has agreed on salaries in exchange for principles. It is, in some respects, nothing new. But it is good that all doubts are dispelled as early as possible. Their sottogoverno will stay put or be relocated. The discomfort of voting with the PP after a negotiation must be greatly eased if there are a good number of collaborators' pay cheques in the middle, Colau must think. In the end, she did the same with Manuel Valls. The former mayor's speech delivered in the city hall's Saló de Cent sounds emptier than ever today. And more cynical.
But to understand what has happened in Barcelona, it is worth broadening the viewpoint and reviewing the speeches that have been made from Madrid. The common ground in the diagnoses of what needed to be done in the Catalan capital between the Spanish Socialists (PSOE) and the PP is alarming and revealing. Seeing Feijóo, Pedro Sánchez and Díaz Ayuso looking proud and all agreeing on something is a situation that only usually occurs with the speeches of the king. From now on, what has been introduced, engraved in red letters, as a reason for satisfaction and sufficiency: a veto on pro-independence figures occupying important positions. At this point, it is difficult to know what result the elections of July 23rd will have, but the difficulties that Sánchez has through the Collboni move have become more difficult, almost impossible. There are now only two possible governments: PP-Vox or PP-PSOE. Everything else is a fairy tale.
PSC, Comuns and PP performed a farce that had a trick to it and that at the time could not be explained. First with the agreement and then with the lies. It took less than 24 hours for Daniel Sirera to give the speech that, in return for his vote for Collboni, he had prevented the Comuns from continuing in the government of the city. They will not be deputy mayors, nor councillors with specific portfolios, but they will be there, waiting for the Spanish elections to pass and then we will see. In the end, it's all about hanging on for a month and then it will last four years.