The political uncertainty derived from the negotiations for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and the internal problems of the major parties threaten to block the political action of Barcelona City Council. The mayor, Jaume Collboni, saw this Friday how none of the three parties that could row in favor of providing the city with new Budgets and approving the new tax ordinances did anything in this direction. The socialist councilor, who until now intended to approve the accounts with a variable geometry exercise with agreements on the left and right, has pointed to a change in strategy after this Friday’s plenary session. If until now Collboni wanted to approve the Budgets first to then find one or two government partners for the rest of the mandate, he has now assumed that he will have to do everything at the same time. “My duty as mayor is to continue dialogue, finalize the proposals and see what viability exists to make possible a budget agreement and the governability of the city,” Collboni explained at the end of the plenary session this Friday.
Collboni outlined this change in strategy in response to a question from the leader of the PP, Daniel Sirera, about the support and agreements that he plans to reach to approve the 2024 budgets. Sirera has suggested that Xavier Trias, from TriasxBCN, and Ada Colau, from BComú, will support Collboni “in exchange for a chair.” Furthermore, he has blamed the mayor for only seeking to “get to Moncloa.” “Stop thinking about the future of Pedro Sánchez and think more about the citizens of Barcelona,” Sirera said.
The PP’s question came in the final stretch of a plenary session in which the opposition has once again overturned the proposal for tax ordinances that included new developments in the tax on terraces and an increase in taxes linked to tourism. Collboni has 10 councilors out of a total of 41. He would need another eleven councilors to govern with an absolute majority. One option would be to bring in the eleven Junts representatives. The other option would be to add the nine councilors from the Commons and the five from ERC to the Socialists. At the moment, none of the three parties reveal their cards, partly due to the internal debate in which they are immersed and partly due to the political uncertainty derived from the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
All in all, Collboni remains optimistic about approving the 2024 accounts: “This City Council and this government will have Budgets, without a doubt,” he stated, and has appealed to Junts and BComú for being the two groups that, explicitly, have shown their willingness to reach an agreement.
The municipal government must present a new Budget proposal for which it has no deadline, while the ordinances are automatically extended as they have not been approved this Friday. If there is no change in the script, the main victims of the non-approval of the tax ordinances this Friday will be the city’s restaurateurs, who will have to pay 100% of the terrace fee as it has not been possible to approve the progressive proposal that the government team and the restaurateurs had agreed. Broadly speaking, restaurateurs will pay a total of eight million annually instead of the 4.6 million they had initially agreed upon.
The Government team trusted Trias per Barcelona, the local brand of Junts per Catalunya, to carry out this vote, since it was a measure agreed upon between the City Council and the restaurant sector. Junts had sold its support dearly by linking it to a two-point drop in the IBI, which implied a notable reduction in revenue. “There is still time to find a solution for restaurateurs,” said Ramon Tremosa, spokesperson for Junts, who after the meeting proposed approving the 75% reduction for restaurateurs in the plenary session on November 7 for one more year.
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In addition to the tax on terraces, the new tax on tourist apartments nor on cruise ships that make short stays in Barcelona, which are considered the ones that contribute the least to the city, could not be approved. In this case, the government team trusted the commons to approve it, but Ada Colau’s team did not collaborate because they considered the general approach “unambitious.” The government team considers that both Junts and the commons have rejected Collboni’s plans for “political issues” rather than “for the city’s interest.” “If they want to talk about chairs, we will talk about chairs,” these sources abound, annoyed by the demands of potential partners.
Less income from the Terrace tax
Barcelona restaurateurs will have to pay eight million euros in 2024 for the use of the terraces – the rate set in 2019 but which was greatly reduced due to the pandemic – if the opposition continues to block the approval of the agreement reached with the sector and which establishes the final collection at 4.6 million. Trias per Barcelona, the natural partner of the Collboni government in this matter, says it wants to save the situation with a temporary agreement that would consist of maintaining the current rate frozen for one more year. With the extension, restaurateurs would pay about two million, the same as this year. This would benefit the restaurant sector, but the City Council would receive 2.6 million less than expected with the agreement that the restaurateurs themselves had reached with the municipal government.
But for now, if nothing changes, the amount to be paid will be eight million. After the opposition’s refusal to agree on the new rate with the PSC, the director of the Restoration Guild, Roger Pallarols, has communicated that the sector continues to defend the agreement with the Barcelona government and has stated that he does not understand “that no solution when you cannot return to the 2019 rate, as the majority of the parties in the plenary session have said.
The Councilor for Economy, Jordi Valls, assured after the plenary session that they will continue to hold meetings with the restaurateurs to “try to find a solution” after the municipal government’s proposal did not prosper in the plenary session.
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