After an investiture session that many found shameful and bizarre (as I have said elsewhere, to me it seemed the most predictable and natural thing in the world), Jaume Collboni will govern Barcelona with even more difficulties than his illustrious predecessor. The new mayor will have to command the capital with a minimal group of councilors and traveling companions (Comuns and PP) who will try to annoy as much or more than an opposition resentful of the retirement of their outraged elders. This circumstantial difficulty could be overcome with the methodical Colau; namely, through the hyperactive presence and the omnivorous lust for power of the commander in chief. But Collboni, whether he likes it or not, is a politician who has grown in the muck of the most ancestral party-ocracy and about whom, beyond being anointed by some Barcelona elites, no one really knows almost anything.
Barcelona is not a countess city, but a monarchical one, which implies that the mood of its streets depends very much on the political health of its helmsman. Before emptying the Raval of drug dealers and ultralight scooters or thinking about how we could walk in Portal de l'Àngel without cruise tourism devouring us, Collboni must forge a political image that infects citizens with enthusiasm. For now, and much to our regret, Barcelona is not the richest city in the world nor the place where one must necessarily live to prosper at a family, work, and economic level. But our city, despite the rise in rental prices and the inconveniences typical of a global place, remains one of the best places to live on the planet. The mayor must embody this pride, stirring our spirits and, if possible, filling our pockets with more euros.
Regarding the management aspect, Collboni has started his journey on the right foot, placing his two most experienced councilors in the city's nerve center (Jordi Valls in Eixample) and its historic core (Albert Batlle in Ciutat Vella). With business awareness in mind, Valls can help revive Barcelona's center, where traditional commerce remains aged and new businesses are affected by unbearable shabbiness. Batlle has a lot of police experience in his bag and will now have an easier time aligning the Urbana's commanders, so they have the kindness to go out and patrol the streets (if my Ateneu associate needs it, I can provide him with the locations and times where thieves steal watches from tourists with more enthusiasm). The mayor has also done well by promising to halve the construction time for La Rambla and reminding Pere Aragonès of the budget allocation he promised to the city.
All this is very good and long live good governance; but when we talk about politics in our city, things are more difficult. From the glorious socialist mayoralties, we don't remember the budgets or the sidewalks, but rather the climate with which Maragall (the good one) had imbued Barcelona with the air of a state capital. Now we no longer live in an era of Olympic festivities, and I would say that to restore Barcelona to the climate of excellence of the 90s, the new mayor will have to use culture as a driving force (an area that, by the way, the Comuns dismissed as if it were third-rate, in one of their big mistakes). Barcelona can only become a great European capital again if it resumes its role as an undisputed cultural hub of the Mediterranean. The mayor has a good group of cultural managers on his team, although their attachment to past policies could rather be a hindrance.
"Our city continues to be one of the best places to live on the planet. The mayor must embody this pride, stirring our spirits and, if possible, filling our pockets with more euros."From this perspective, Collboni has the opportunity to remake the intelligentsia cultural-Olympic socialist in Barcelona, waiting for Salvador Illa to conquer the other side of Sant Jaume. But the country has changed a lot, and Catalonia will never be the same after the events of 2017 and the rise of independentism, however politically shattered that option may be: when it comes to building a city that acts as an opposite pole to Madrid (as Maragall did, who in turn was also a containment wall for the PSOE in Catalonia), the current mayor will have it much more difficult than his great predecessors and will not be able to pull the cultural cart that until now justified submission to Spain. With quotes from García Lorca and remembering the boom literary South American of the city, will not even reach the corner. Barcelona, let's remember, is the capital of a country.
Se't gira feina, Jaume. Good luck and so on.