Ada Colau vs. Miquel Puig: the most intense duel

BarcelonaARA's director, Esther Vera, had promised a "fiery" conversation, and it delivered. The quintessentially Barcelona-centric clash of titans between former mayor Ada Colau and economist Miquel Puig on the housing crisis did not disappoint. Let's start with the end: when, at the last minute, journalist Eva Arderius asked them for a reason for optimism, Puig mentioned the promise to eliminate tourist licenses and Colau the initiative for a law prohibiting speculative purchases. But this was in the pre-farewell relaxation. Behind them lay a battlefield of dialectical clashes, passionate arguments, and, in short, pure enjoyment for an audience that didn't lose focus for a moment.

Colau and Puig know each other well. They served together in Barcelona City Hall; both have had a significant public presence and are not afraid to speak their minds when it comes to advancing debates like the housing issue in the direction they deem appropriate. And, from different ideological positions, they overlapped in one sense: both seemed to trust in their own capacity for controversy, and, above all, the country has recognized both of them as possessing a particularly persuasive and influential public voice. They knew they would clash, and they knew how and where they would clash. Perhaps they had even anticipated the clashes, and that's why the cordiality of the conversation didn't mask the tensions that made the debate more heated and, for the public, more productive and enjoyable.

One of these moments came when Puig explained that Barcelona had gained a million inhabitants and that, on the other hand, the 300,000 homes needed to house them had not been built. And he uttered the phrase migratory avalanche“I am against using expressions that fuel the far right,” Colau retorted, arguing that North African countries have experienced larger waves of migration. The economist stood firm, arguing that, however we phrase it, population growth has caught us off guard and created a “monumental” housing problem. At another point, the former mayor questioned why investment funds were allowed in the housing market. Puig responded that prohibiting them would be pointless, because if all the apartments BlackRock owns in Barcelona were distributed among the public, those present, “even though they pretend to be very nice people, would sell them at market price.” The audience laughed as the economist pointed at them and said, “They would do the same.” Colau defended the work of her two terms as mayor of Barcelona and accused the Catalan and central governments of abandoning the Comuns-led city council in its attempt to create a new housing landscape. "The PSOE has always been a real estate party," she said, denouncing the "rhetorical fraud" of the two-party system, which has failed to enact separate legislation for small and large property owners. Puig insisted that "if there is enough housing, regulation is unnecessary" and called for further increases in the minimum wage. It should be noted, however, that Puig and Colau have joined forces in forging a new common understanding regarding tourism as a problem. This convergence, however, felt like only an episodic truce amidst a high-stakes battle.