“If I come first, I will avoid a pact between Collboni and Trias”, says the candidate from Barcelona in Comú for the mayor’s office
Ada Colau runs for the third time for mayor of Barcelona. He affirms that his main satisfaction is having changed the agenda of the city’s priorities and the greatest disappointment is that factual powers such as Agbar have managed to stand up to him for now. He maintains that after a third term he will have finished his period in the forefront of politics.
Do you remember, before you were mayor, when you were a spokesperson for the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) and almost everyone loved you?The right, the PP, attacked me. Cristina Cifuentes, a government delegate in Madrid, called me pro-ETARr and I and my son received death threats.But most appreciated her.Yes Yes.Eight years later, it would seem that many people love her, but that many others hate her intensely.On the street, I meet very respectful people, even those who are critical. Nothing to do with hate on social media. A difference from before: when you do activism you are with people who think like you, and you don’t have to relate to those who don’t. When you are mayor you have to interact with everyone.
“On the street, I meet very respectful people, even those who are critical. Nothing to do with the hatred of social networks”
What is the best in the balance of these two mandates and what is the worst?What I am most proud of is having changed the agenda of the city. Barcelona is today a leader in the fight against the climate emergency, in traffic calming, in social policy. The Generalitat copies our names and now has a Ministry of Feminismes. The worst, most frustrating thing, is that some powers that be get away with it. Agbar, for example. We wanted to raise the public management of water, a judge agreed with us but the Supreme Court knocked it down. Since then, Agbar has waged a judicial and ‘fake news’ war on us like I have not seen another like it. And it has managed to prevent a regulation of participation of the city council.
“The worst, the most frustrating, is that some powers that be get away with it. Agbar, for example”
Since we are in the field of frustrations, let’s continue with the public funeral, which was not achieved either.It is unfortunate that it has not been approved, everything is ready: the physical headquarters, the economic study. It would make it possible to reduce rates by at least 30%. But ERC and the PSC have not given us support.In housing, did you think it would cost less to achieve solutions?Already as an activist, I knew that it would be very difficult, that the big real estate speculative powers would oppose it. But some resistors do not cease to surprise you. It has been frustrating to take eight years to convince the Socialists to regulate rents, which have not stopped rising.In Barcelona there are people who maintain that the regulation will paralyze the economy and destroy the real estate sector.There are voices from the economic world, clearly Foment, who have always made the speech that we would stop the economy. They said so when we arrived and today we have less unemployment than eight years ago. We are at 8% and when Xavier Trias stopped being mayor he was at 14%. The data supports that I promote the economy. I have met builders who are very happy because they are doing a lot of housing in Barcelona.
“We are at 8% unemployment and when Xavier Trias stopped being mayor he was at 14%. The data supports that I promote the economy”
But are builders happy with rent regulation?Obviously, the vulture funds and the big real estate companies are against it, because they want to make the maximum profit, but the function of the administration is not to lay red carpets, as Trias wants, for the big speculators. They will be able to do business, not unlimited.And the script for the next term is that the municipal housing stock continues to grow?Yes. And we are designing new policies, such as rental aid, which with the regulation become very useful. Without it, the market incorporated the aid and raised the price. We will create rental aid of a maximum of 300 euros for the population between 50 and 65 years of age, especially women, for one year. There is aid for older and younger people, but not for that group.
“We will create rental aid of a maximum of 300 euros for the population between 50 and 65 years of age, especially women, for one year”
Do you believe in the measure of 30% subsidized housing, that other candidacies want to close or review?30% has started to work and will work. If I am mayor again, I will get the PSC and ERC to continue defending the measure, as in this mandate, and there is room for dialogue with the sector. It is not true that it is a rigid measure.
“If I become mayor again, I will get the PSC and ERC to continue defending 30% of subsidized housing”
One of his recognized successes is having combated illegal tourist apartments, but there is no less tourism in Barcelona than before.Not only did we close the illegal flats, we prevented more hotels from being built in the center. That tourism is between 12% and 14% of GDP is a maximum. If we had not intervened, we would still be at 25%. And that would make us a much more precarious economy.Mobility is the management area most commented on by citizens. Without the pandemic and those lane closures due to the sanitary distance, would you have gotten this far?The pandemic helped us speed up, but it was scheduled to reduce traffic, double investment in public transport and pacify streets, in addition to gaining quality public space for everyone, not just the residents of a street. It is false that the Consell de Cent cars now all go through Valencia. There may be a greater congestion occasionally, as in Via Laietana. But the works end. They told us that Glòries would be a disaster and it is a success. The traffic readjusts.Have you been on the Via Augusta lately?I haven’t been lately, but I have seen the work on the Via Augusta bike lane, which has been done with a lot of neighborhood participation, with the enthusiasm of all the neighborhood associations. Since the works on the bike lane were carried out, the use of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat from El Vallès has increased by 17%. It is a good fact.
“Since the work on the bike path has been done, the use of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat from the Vallès has increased by 17%. It’s a good fact”
There is a great distance between you and Collboni. As government partners, they look like a divorced couple who have to continue sharing the same apartment.We have governed with the PSC, we have voted together for practically everything we have done, and that has translated into progressive policies. When the polls made Collboni nervous, he opted for a frivolous gesture and left the government. It is a great disappointment that Collboni wants to agree with Trias. He is opening the door for you in all debates. A Collboni-Trias pact is a risk. But if I finish first, I will avoid a pact between Collboni and Trias.If she wins but is not mayor because a third-party agreement prevents her, she won’t be able to complain after Manuel Valls gave her three votes four years ago. You didn’t win.If I come first, I will clearly have many options to be mayor and convince PSC and ERC to close an agreement. In 2019, I got the same councilors as Maragall, 10. He had a few thousand more votes. I offered him an agreement and he preferred Junts, with whom he had 15 councilors. I added 18 with the PSC. Is it less democratic to present yourself for mayor with 18 than with 15 councilors? It is perfectly legitimate. She had every right to aspire to be mayor. I have governed with the left, I have not made any pact with the right.If you manage to be mayor again, when the next term ends, do you see yourself closer to Congress and state politics, to an international organization, to return to activism?After another term as mayoress I see myself out of institutional politics. I will continue in politics as an activist, but that can be done without an institutional position. Institutional policy is limited for me to these three terms as mayor.