Jaume Collboni: "My victory will mean the return to pragmatic politics after 15-M and the 'procés'

Jaume Collboni, PSC candidate for mayor of Barcelona for the upcoming municipal elections on May 28, photographed in the Marina del Port.Albert Garcia neighborhood

Jaume Collboni (53 years old) is the socialist candidate for mayor of Barcelona and hopes that his third attempt will be the final one to obtain the mayoral rod. He has governed with Ada Colau during the last legislature and part of the previous one, but left the municipal government last January to be able to differentiate his project and campaign with fewer ties. He says that this was a success and that he will win the elections because the citizens demand a change. In fact, he refers to Colau's commons as "former partners", even though formally the coalition is still standing. "We are campaigning," he alleges.

Question. The PSC won the regional elections in 2021, something it has not achieved in the municipal elections of Barcelona since 2007. Will he succeed now?

Answer. We're going to win and I'll be the new mayor. We notice it in the events, in the climate, in the polls. The real and progressive change for Barcelona is that of the PSC.

Q. One of its mottos is "order, pride, opportunity". Doesn't the appeal to order lean you too far to the right?

A. The left must be concerned about security and protect those who live in the most vulnerable neighborhoods. Our discourse is more related to an orderly city. In the first 100 days I will propose a pact for civility and coexistence.

Q. Do you see disorder in Barcelona?

A. If people have that feeling, the mayor should empathize, solve it and not look the other way even though there are fewer crimes than before the pandemic and we invest more in cleaning.

Q. He has governed with Ada Colau six of the last eight years. Are you not jointly responsible for the situation?

A. We have removed the top-blanket from the streets and removed a thousand bicycle taxis. And when I am mayor I will ask President Aragonès for the additional 600 Mossos that he promised to deploy in Barcelona. That is worrying about security: the far right amplifies and manipulates the problem and a part of the left ignores it because of an ideological prejudice. This is a mistake. There are leaders of the left in Madrid who make a speech like mine and are not from the PSOE.

Q. Is your fear that the extreme right will grow at the expense of the discourse of insecurity and disorder?

A. The extreme right is feeding on insecurity in the neighborhoods. There is some real risk that it will have electoral consequences in Barcelona.

Q. He says that whoever does not comply with civic norms will have to pay. Is there a low fine?

A. The agreement on civility must be updated and the amounts fined and increased. Public space costs money to maintain. An orderly city should have impeccable sidewalks, well-painted streets, working streetlights. It has not been done because in a coalition there is a logic of majority and minority. It was not an area of the PSC.

Q. Colau says that with you the car will not back up in the public space.

A. The PSC defends social and climate justice. We want to move forward so that Barcelona is an emission-free city by 2030 without anyone perceiving it as an aggression. The upper middle class can afford to change cars but the working class cannot. I propose aid for those who have the yellow label.

Q. Is it no longer a priority to connect the tram between Francesc Macià and Verdaguer this mandate?

A. I said that the priority is the neighborhoods. You have to finish the works of the Eixample and let it breathe. The tram connection I do not know if it will be at the end of the mandate or at the beginning of the other.

Q. He makes an amendment to the whole of Colau as if he had not governed with it.

A. I am proud to have neutralized the thesis of economic decline of my former partners. We have built 1.2 million square meters of economic roof in La Marina, the 22@ district or La Sagrera.

Q. He speaks of the commons as former partners, but they still govern together.

A. Let's be serious: we are just days away from voting. We have had differences. My project is that of the left that gives solutions and not excuses; that pacts, governs for all and does not feed the confrontation with areas of the city.

Q. His associates have branded him as disloyal for leaving the government. Why didn't he break the entire PSC?

A. I left because I want to be mayor. I wanted to campaign and to continue was an unnecessary tension. The PSC does not break left-wing coalitions as they did in 2017. On the broken coalitions counter is, Colau, 1-Collboni, 0. Lessons, the fair ones.

Q. Would it have a symbolic weight for Pedro Sánchez if socialism wins Barcelona?

A. It would be a boost to his policies. To those of Catalonia, for sure. A victory for the PSC will mean that it consolidates itself as the main left-wing force; that pragmatic politics returns after the 15-M and the procés and a boost to Salvador Illa and Sánchez for resolving and laying the foundations for the solution of the conflict through dialogue, the pact and in the constitutional framework and to turn the page of the procés in a constructive way.

Q. No one will be able to govern without support according to all the polls. With whom would he agree?

A. The bases of the agreement are economic growth and not degrowth, social justice, and loyalty to the State and the European institutions.

Q. Will the expansion of the airport be in the negotiation for the next municipal government? There they totally clash with the commons.

A. The substantive debate is not that of a fixed proposal on lengthening a runway or not doing so. It's about deciding the model you want. Let them say how wealth is generated with degrowth. Barcelona needs to internationalize its economy. I am afraid that there is no model and that there are only slogans or making headlines. If the President of the Generalitat does not do so, in my first 100 days of government I will open a scientific study commission to study the options for enlargement. All the municipalities in the area are in favor except one.

Q. Is your advantage that you can agree right or left?

A. We are a party of the left. If I don't win? To the opposition. Our councillors will vote for me.

Q. Do you see yourself agreeing with Xavier Trias, from Junts?

A. Trias hides his acronym and his ideological position because he knows that doesn't add up. It is not the safe change: it would introduce political and legal uncertainty.

Q. Does it expressly exclude Vox from any equation to achieve its investiture?

A. It is obvious: Vox is not in any of the assumptions that I have marked to reach agreements.

Q. Colau received the votes of Manuel Valls and you could receive those of Vox if they believe that the priority is that Colau does not govern.

A. I don't do fictional politics or give fuel to the far right.

Q. In 2019 the vetoes crossed between you and ERC on account of the procés prevented the formation of a tripartite municipal government. Would you now incorporate ERC into your government?

A. Program, program, program.

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