Collboni is struggling with the 30% reduction in protected housing.

BarcelonaBarcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni is struggling with the modification of the 30% reserve for protected housing. While doubts are growing within the ranks of the PSC about the possibility of eventually reaching an agreement with Junts per Barcelona, ​​the opposition Barcelona en Comú party is the latest proposal The decision put forward by the mayor has caused the municipal government to lose a key budget vote this Wednesday. All of this has led the fourth deputy mayor, Jordi Valls, to raise for the first time the possibility that the 30% limit will not be modified this term.

In an interview with SER Catalunya, the head of Economy and Housing in Jaume Collboni's government added pressure this Wednesday to the negotiations with Junts to modify the 30% reserve for protected housing. He warned the group led by Jordi Martí Galbis that if an agreement to modify the rule is not reached before the summer, it will not be touched until the next term. Either a box or a belt. An ultimatum with which Valls tries to unblock an agreement that seemed a done deal, but is now up in the air.

"We won't have an eternal debate. We've been discussing the 30% for two years, and I think we've debated enough," said Valls, who warned Junts that "if there's no agreement before August 1st," the municipal government will close the file and won't decide whether to reopen it until after the municipal elections. For the moment, the Junts per Barcelona group has not responded publicly to the fourth deputy mayor's warning.

Valls' words come at a time of stagnation in the talks between Junts and the PSC. Aside from some details, both groups were quite in agreement with the latest 30% reform proposal that Collboni had put forward and that, as the ARA advanced, dilutes the impact of the measure on large-scale renovations. Negotiations revolved primarily around taxation and Junts' request for a 4% reduction in the property tax paid by Barcelona residents.

The impact of the Cerdán case

However, in recent days, an external factor has also impacted the negotiations. Sources within Junts admit that everything happening in Madrid—with corruption cases affecting the closest enemy of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez—makes closing a deal with the Socialists more difficult: "It raises the price of taking a photo with the PSC." These doubts have not pleased Collboni's executive, who believes that the 30% should be kept out of the noise that may arise in Congress.

That's why Valls's words this Wednesday are being interpreted as a way of adding public pressure to the Junts per Barcelona group, which, like the PSC, has persistently defended the need to modify the 30% reserve promoted in 2018 by Ada Colau's government. A change in the regulations has also been persistently requested by the employers' association—led by Foment—and by the real estate sector, which has even helped facilitate talks between the two groups at City Hall.

A difficult Wednesday

While a deal with Junts remains pending, the 30% reform has also caused other headaches for the municipal government this Wednesday. The opposition defeated a credit modification in the Economy Committee with which Valls sought to mobilize €100 million of the surplus to cover public transport financing expenses for the Metropolitan Transport Authority (€50.1 million for discounts), social expenditures (€13.7 million for the Municipal Council of Social Services), and millions of expenses.

The Commons had warned on Monday that they would not support the credit modification if Collboni did not commit to "reversing the dismantling of the 30%," and this Wednesday they made good on their threat. The ball then passed to Junts for Barcelona, ​​​​which, far from giving the PSC a boost, was highly critical of the municipal government for its "absolute disregard for dialogue and negotiation" and urged it to find alternatives to mobilize these 100 million euros without having to touch the remainder. Only ERC voted in favor.

Once the municipal government's defeat was certified, Valls lamented the position of Junts and, above all, Barcelona en Comú, reminding them that the pact they signed for the tax ordinances included a commitment to maintain the discounts for public transport, to which 50 of the 100 million euros were to be allocated. "Now this demand is no longer as important nor does it concern them," Valls denounced, accusing the Comú of settling into a "permanently offended position."

Despite admitting that the primary responsibility for approving the files lies with the municipal government, Valls stressed that "this does not exempt the other groups from their responsibility" and emphasized that credit modifications have been common whenever there has been a budget extension at City Hall. Now Valls has two options: either obtain those 100 million euros by taking them from other items already allocated in the now extended 2024 budget or bring another credit modification to the plenary session that would allow, as he wanted, to use the increase in revenue that the City Council will have this year and that with the extension it has not been able to allocate.