I don't know if the two Tanzanian priests and the two Filipinos who make up the Augustinian community in Barcelona will tell Leo XIV, when he visits the church of Sant Agustí in the Raval on June 10, that it was in that church that the Assembly of Catalonia was founded, the great coalition of anti-Franco forces in the country. It was the year 1971. Time was time. When the Catalan Church stood shoulder to shoulder with those fighting for individual and collective freedoms. When rectors sheltered striking workers and prevented the "grisos" from entering. When Comissions Obreres was founded in a parish (Sant Medir, la Bordeta, 1964), when students barricaded themselves in convents (la Caputxinada, Sarrià, 1966), or the most symbolic monastery was the chosen setting to "christen" a party that would govern Catalonia for decades (Convergència, Montserrat, 1974). It was the time of Escarré, Jubany, Cassià Maria Just, Xirinacs, Ragué, Ballarín, and many worker priests... It was a time when the Church had a better reputation than it does today. More practitioners, more religious vocations, more complicity with laypeople, more credibility, no reports of pedophilia.

In the last five years alone, demand at Estació del Nord in Barcelona has grown by 50%. And data suggests the trend will continue to rise: the City Council estimates that demand will increase by another 30% by 2030. This was explained by the Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Urbanism and Mobility, Laia Bonet, during the presentation of the renovation of this historic station in the Catalan capital, which hosts buses for international routes, between Catalonia and the rest of Spain, as well as intercity and private services.

There is one year left until the municipal elections and only ten days until the Pope's visit to Barcelona, and the labor conflict with part of the City Council staff is growing. In fact, social workers will maintain their strike for June 9 and 10, coinciding with the pontiff's presence. This Friday, in an extraordinary plenary session requested by the Junts, Comuns, and ERC groups, Jaume Collboni's government has been left alone with Vox against opening a dialogue space with the three minority unions –CGT, Intersindical, and ABACOS, with only 3 out of the 15 members of the negotiation table–, who have called for 30 days of partial stoppages in basic social services, gender-based violence, childhood, libraries, nursery schools, social emergencies, or citizen attention.partial stoppages in basic social services, gender-based violence, childhood, libraries, nursery schools, social emergencies, or citizen attention.

Mayor Jaume Collboni (Barcelona, 1969) receives ARA when there is just one year left until the municipal elections. We talk about housing –the main problem for Barcelonians–, tourism, security, and also about the situation of the PSOE amidst the Zapatero storm.

Ten months after reaching an agreement to reduce cruise terminals, the Port and the Barcelona City Council once again have an open melon on the table. It was placed this Wednesday by the mayor, Jaume Collboni, when he defended in an interview with Betevé that he aspired for scale cruises – those that only spend a few hours in the city – to disappear completely in the coming years. This Thursday, from the Port, they have responded to the mayor, defending the importance of this type of vessel and emphasizing that eliminating them will not solve the problem of tourist overcrowding in the Catalan capital.

More pressure on cruise ships that do not have Barcelona as their home port and only make a stopover. The mayor of the Catalan capital, Jaume Collboni, announced this Wednesday that his objective is that in the coming years this type of offering does not exist in the city and that only vessels that have the Catalan capital as their home port dock in the Port of Barcelona. In an interview with Betevé, he advocated for "reducing cruise stopovers to zero" in the coming years. "We have to start making brave and very clear decisions in this regard," he said.

"What peace," says the mayor Jaume Collboni, as he enters the Documenta bookstore in Barcelona this Friday morning. Documenta bookstore in Barcelona. The Barcelona City Council has announced the first support plan for bookstores, fifteen days before Sant Jordi. The global allocation of the measure is 850,000 euros for 2026, and it is expected to continue. The mayor has been clear and direct: "Buy in bookstores, don't buy on Amazon. By buying in a small bookstore you are doing more than buying a book, you are defending a model of the city, a way of relating and that the profits stay in the neighborhood. We defend the right to stay in our neighborhoods and we help people like booksellers, our neighbors, friends, people like Èric, and not a man who has yachts sailing the Mediterranean," said Collboni. His words may recall those of Anne Hidalgo, then mayor of Paris, who said during the pandemic so that bookstores could reopen.

"What peace," says mayor Jaume Collboni, entering the Documenta bookstore in Barcelona this Friday morning. Documenta bookstore in Barcelona. The Barcelona City Council has announced the first support plan for bookstores, fifteen days before Sant Jordi. The global allocation for the measure is 850,000 euros for 2026, and it is expected to have continuity. The mayor has been clear and unambiguous: "Buy in bookstores, don't buy on Amazon. By buying in a small bookstore you are doing more than buying a book, you are defending a model of city, a way of relating and that the profits stay in the neighborhood. We defend the right to stay in the neighborhoods and we help people like booksellers, our neighbors, friends, people like Èric, and not a man who has yachts sailing the Mediterranean," said Collboni. His words may recall those of Anne Hidalgo, then mayor of Paris, who said during the pandemic for bookstores to be able to reopen.

Barcelona City Council presented its plan this Friday to "democratize" green spaces in all of the city's neighborhoods by creating 25 new green areas on previously unused land. These new zones, presented by Mayor Jaume Collboni, are part of the first package of actions under the Proximity and Interior Spaces Program—framed within the Climate Plan—an urban planning initiative that the municipal government launched in 2024 to reclaim approximately 20 hectares of green space. "These are abandoned spaces that are designated as green but hadn't been transformed, and now we're activating them so that everyone can find them close to home," explained Collboni. The mayor referred to spaces that were "disused, forgotten, and not even perceived as spaces," and which the city now wants to repurpose. "Having these spaces close to home means having climate refuges and a higher quality of life in our neighborhoods," he emphasized.

City councilor Lluís Rabell has resigned from his position on the Barcelona City Council for health reasons. (November 2023) He already took a temporary break Rabell has also stepped down from his role as a member of the municipal government for medical reasons. But this time, the leave is permanent.

The announcement by Barcelona City Council of a new literary grant for Latin American authors The event held at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) has stirred up controversy in the Catalan cultural and political world. Complaints from writers like Núria Cadenes and Melcior Comes have been joined by those from the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language (AELC), and finally, political unease: both the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts per Catalunya) have called for its removal. For its part, the City Council's Deputy Mayor for Culture, Xavier Marcé, explained to Guadalajara that he finds it difficult "to see a controversy in this matter." According to Marcé, what should be done is to examine "the commitment to Catalan in relation to the overall initiatives and not just this specific action."

With 48 hours to go until the Diada, the state of the world, especially the Israeli massacre in Gaza, dominates the news. This morning, The Flotilla has reported a drone attack on one of its main vessels, docked in Tunisia.This is the moment. The alleged attack caused a fire, but no one was harmed.

While Serbian troops were besieging the population of Sarajevo from the surrounding hills, its Mayor, Muhamed Kreševljaković He escaped underground. The Bosnian army had dug a tunnel under the Bosnian capital's airport to transport goods and allow the population to pass through, avoiding the Serbian soldiers' faces. It was through this tunnel that the mayor managed to escape and take off on a plane bound for Barcelona. It was July 1992.

Israeli authorities have barred Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni from entering the country. He was scheduled to travel to Tel Aviv this Friday afternoon for an institutional trip during which he was scheduled to meet with mayors from the region.

The ultra-Catholic group Advocats Cristians (Christian Lawyers) has taken the poster for this year's La Mercè Festival in Barcelona to court. Specifically, the organization has filed a complaint against the mayor, Jaume Collboni, whom it considers "ultimately responsible" for the poster. As for the author of the work, the set designer and film director Lluís Danés, they are asking him to be a witness in the legal proceedings they intend to open.

Actress Emma Vilarasau will be the town crier for La Mercè 2025. This was announced this Thursday by the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, at the presentation of the first new features related to the city's main festival. The Mayor wished to recognize Vilarasau's four-decade career in the world of culture and acting. The actress will kick off the festivities in the Catalan capital.

Barcelona en Común's ultimatum to Jaume Collboni. The group's president, Janet Sanz, has issued a "final" warning to the mayor of Barcelona: either the municipal government stops the macro eviction of Vallcarca immediately or they won't agree on anything. "We won't even talk about the credit modification, nor about the tax ordinances or the budgets, nor about urban planning," he assured.

More frequent service, more innovative trains, and a new section of Line 9 is underway. The Barcelona metro will have 39 more trains starting in 2029, reconfiguring the current service. This was announced by the President of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Salvador Illa, and the Mayor of Barcelona, ​​Jaume Collboni, during the institutional centenary ceremony for the metro, held this Monday night in the auditorium of the Barcelona School of Industry. For the President, this measure will represent a "giant step" toward improving the Barcelona metro, which he described as a backbone of the capital and the cities in the metropolitan area. "Investing in public transport is one of the best ways to build a country," Illa argued.

Two years ago, when the newly appointed mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, visited the children of the Escola del Mar, now located in Guinardó, asked him why, despite what had been promised, the historic Barceloneta building, destroyed in 1938 by fascist bombs, had not been rebuilt. They caught the mayor off guard. He didn't know what they were talking about. And he told them he would get to work. Two years later, the children returned the visit to the city council this Friday and, smiling but determined, asked him the same question again: "Mayor, what about the reconstruction of the Escola del Mar?" The mayor told them it would be done, yes... But where and when is still unknown. The school would not be for them, but for the city. But they have become its own: they are its roots.

This Thursday marked one month since Jaume Collboni gave himself one. ultimatum With the reform of the 30% reserve, since the Círculo de Economía (Economy Circle) meetings, the mayor of Barcelona urged Junts and ERC to reach an agreement to modify the law. He even said at the time that he would like to approve the reform in the Urban Planning Commission that same month, a wish he was unable to fulfill. Now, however, the negotiations are entering the final stretch: conversations with Junts have multiplied, and the outcome seems imminent. If the municipal government wants to bring the 30% modification to the next Urban Planning Commission, it would have to approve it in the government commission this Thursday.