José María Álvarez del Manzano smiles. José Luis Martínez-Almeida walks with him slowly through the glass patio of the Cibeles Palace. The first was mayor of Madrid for 12 years (1991-2003), the second seeks in May 2023 to revalidate the baton for the second time. The two have entered the first plenary session of the City Council together after the return of summer, which has been characterized by a new distance between PP and Vox. Everything points to an extension of the Budget for 2023. The extreme right has been blunt: there will be an agreement if the oldest cars – known as A vehicles and that do not require an environmental label – circulate again in the center of Madrid, as was the case before from Central Madrid. Almeida’s response took two minutes:
-That is not possible. They don’t want to negotiate.
Borja Carabante, the mayor of Mobility, strong man of Almeida in Cibeles -with whom he runs through the Retiro during the week- and also son-in-law of Álvarez del Manzano, has also joined the walk of the mayors through the entrance of the City Hall. Almeida, aware of the whispers that were forming in the patio at seeing the popular family so united, immediately stepped out:
“The father-in-law has come to secure his son-in-law on the electoral list huh.
Those who work daily with Almeida point out that the current mayor of Madrid sees in Manzano the mirror in which to look. A beloved and friendly man among the people of Madrid, but without anything noteworthy in terms of management and, above all, lacking a visible and palpable legacy for the public. If Alberto Ruiz Gallardón designed the Madrid Río park with a millionaire debt, Ana Botella promoted the installation of electric bicycles in the streets and Manuela Carmena reformed the Gran Vía and Calle de Atocha, Almeida believes that with the sympathy and the selfies that The people of Madrid ask him enough to revalidate a new mandate, helped, yes, by a tumultuous left, disunited, and mired in internal battles. Knowing that perhaps he does not have them all with him―his great promise to bury the A5 is in the air, the new garbage contract does not finish convincing the public with constant and increasing complaints or the internal espionage of Isabel Diaz Ayuso and the millionaire scam of six million euros in commissions for bringing masks for officials―, has implemented a work plan with a facelift of the Puerta del Sol as the central axis. The inauguration is scheduled for April 2023, a few weeks before the people of Madrid go to the polls.
Such is the anxiety to explain his mandate with visible things that, by attributing himself, Almeida attributes himself in each public act until the new Plaza de España, the last great transformation of the capital that began -and was even designed- during Carmena’s mandate . But beyond the morning walk between the two popular mayors through the City Council, the reality is that the first plenary session of the Cibeles Palace on the return from vacation has looked squarely at the horizon at the spring elections, which come with the budgets of 2023 as the backdrop.
What affects the most is what happens closest. To not miss anything, subscribe.
subscribe
It always happens. The political calendar sets the last quarter of each year as the start of the deadlines to reconcile the new accounts. As for the ballot papers, all the movements are already being looked at with a magnifying glass: gestures, winks, interventions, photos. There is restlessness in every house. The popular mayors, aware that Ayuso has taken control of the party in Madrid for a few months and, above all, after the internal and media war with Pablo Casado, now attend almost all the president’s public acts, as if it were the wedding of a daughter and as if Almeida’s sympathy with Casado had been a distant dream. A close photo with Ayuso or a small greeting from the leader think that it is, perhaps, a guaranteed seat on the list: politics.
On the other side of the Government, the deputy mayor, Begoña Villacís, tries to revive Ciudadanos, with very few visible results. The internal feeling is one of general discouragement, according to several councilors consulted. There are popular sources that already openly speak of small rapprochements with some of them. In Almeida’s team they believe that, at most, “two or three” will be signed. The reality is that sooner or later Villacís will have to deal with an internal powder keg. The Socialists are aware that Pedro Sánchez does not have any of them to lead the candidacy for mayor. The fall of Mercedes González, current Government delegate, and candidate until a month ago, has fully imploded in the municipal group, which again awaits the finger of a President of the Government as a destination. The spokeswoman, Mar Espinar, tries to set her own agenda, who knows if she is preparing her own candidacy, from which she has never completely disassociated herself. Along the same lines is Enma López, the voice of the socialist accounts, who has achieved a great media presence in recent days, pushed, above all, by big socialist names. And hovering over everyone, the figure of Luis García Montero, who denies everything, but who grows among gossips. The reality is that the PSOE will have to announce who its candidate will be before November 15.
As for local policies, the plenary session has hardly had any scuffles, a rare bird in the Cibeles palace. The political climate, harsh and almost always centered on national politics ―there is not a day without Sánchez being the target of popular targets, one day he will be to blame for the dirt on the streets―, has descended on the capital with small left winks. Más Madrid, with the spokesperson Rita Maestre, tries to combine its political project with highly studied and elaborated projects, neighborhood by neighborhood. Away from the noise of insults, Maestre believes that she has serious chances of being mayor with a highly mobilized left: in November the party will hold a plenary session that will relaunch her candidacy.
Budgets and the State of the City
Without dialectic crosses, Almeida even avoids brawls: “Do you think that your measures are going to significantly reduce the energy consumption of the City Council?” asked Maestre. “Yes”, answered Almeida, who in the reply shift detailed an investment of eight million euros in LED-type lights. Espinar, spokesman for the PSOE, highlighted the state of dirt on the streets. “You are dedicating yourself to selling the new sidewalks, but what are you going to tell the residents of Tirso de Molina who have rats or those who clean the garbage with their own hands?” The mayor passed by. “It amazes me on the left in Madrid. If the diagnosis is so clear, why don’t the people of Madrid vote for the left? Because they are tired of being given lessons.”
At noon, a rumble that started earlier in the day suddenly faded. Ortega Smith had summoned the press. Will he announce that he is leaving the spokesperson? Will he talk about the internal party war with Macarena Olona? No sign. Smith activated the microphone to announce a red line and try to set an agenda: “If Almeida wants new budgets, he will have to remove the restrictions on cars without labels.” Almeida, five minutes later, said that it was not possible. He only contemplates the extension, despite the fact that Villacís persists and tries to unite all the groups with an impossible agreement.
subscribe here to our daily newsletter about Madrid.
#Almeida #points #extension #Madrids #budgets #election #year #Vox #puts #red #lines #negotiate