The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, is convinced that the case on which she had to testify this Friday morning will come to nothing. "There is no case," she told the media a couple of hours after leaving the court, where she had to answer the judge's questions on the accusations against her of offences of abuse of authority, fraud in contracting, misuse of public funds, influence peddling and illegal negotiations, following a compaint filed by the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality, an entity she defined as a “phantom association”.
In a press appearance in the Barcelona City Council, flanked by lawyers Olga Tubau and Àlex Solà and city councillor Marc Serra, Colau repeated her arguments that the current complaint is a re-run of a previous one, which was thrown out by the court, but she added that in this second complaint there is "procedural bad faith", since the lawyer of the association accusing her is the same one that represented the previous body, Abogados Catalanes por la Constitución. That is why she accused the plaintiffs of trying to "intimidate" the municipal government and did not hesitate to assert that these complaints will not succeed in breaking her: "We are not scared, we are stronger than ever."
An electoral tone
In fact, in her city hall press appearance, Colau gave an air of confidence in her convictions, not only exonerating herself from the accusations, but apparently edging closer towards announcing a candidacy for a third mayoral term in the municipal elections of May 2023. Although the mayor has given herself until May to decide whether or not to run, she gave a markedly political speech this Friday, in which she argued that her approach to municipal government has been, simply, “doing what we said we came here to do: defending the common good”.
"We came to change the rules of the game, to defend the people who are vulnerable and that is what we are doing," said Colau, asserting that she was facing "a lawfare offensive, which misuses the justice system." "Our message is that they will not succeed," she added. In addition, she indicated that most of the complaints filed against her and her government have been related to two very specific aspects, "the speculative real estate sector, that is, the vulture funds," and "those that have to do with water management”. Colau argued that the municipal government should open up the debate on water management: "It is legitimate and relevant for a city council to propose public management of water," she said.
Colau also reiterated several times that her goal has always been to work for the "common good", thus recovering one of the key ideas of her first election campaign of 2015, since "common good" in Catalan is literally the abbreviated name of her party, B Comú. She even explored this aspect herself, recalling that "it's good that in politics there are people who come from the social sphere, from organizations that seek the common good", presenting herself as an “activist” and speaking of her “pride” in being one of the founders of the housing action platform, the PAH.
"I take pride in being a mayor who was originally an activist," added Colau, again reiterating that the legal complaint is not aimed, in her opinion, at attacking her or the municipal government, but also at "eroding and questioning the legitimacy of the social entities to which the complaint refers", which are "entities that have been receiving subsidies for a long time and that do a very important and exceptional job in the city".
Defence lawyer will ask for case to be rejected
For her part, lawyer Olga Tubau said that Colau had made an "impeccable" statement before the judge, as she had answered all the questions posed, "without evasive answers or with a shadows of any doubt". According to the lawyer, the mayor "completed, with her explanations, the documentary material that is already in the possession of the prosecutor and the investigating judge" and indicated that the intention of the defence now is to wait and see if the judge asks for further information, pointing out her client's willingness to cooperate with justice, unless manoeuvres are made that seek to "delay the investigation." And if no request is made, "we will shortly request the closing of the case."