If it was not for the momentum of the Barcelona brand, and the ability of economic and social agents to make the Catalan capital almost impregnable despite the numerous problems it has on the table, we would by now be talking about the need for a reaction to bring to an end the city's municipal misgovernment, the inability to put together alliances of any kind and the extreme isolation of Ada Colau. The mayor of Barcelona, who arrived at the seat of power in Plaça Sant Jaume carrying a series of promises for change, now has a rather lightweight baggage in terms of results when there is little more than one year to go until the municipal elections. At many points in her mandate, there has even been the sensation that the city has been running on automatic pilot in the absence of an integrated project and political goal which is gradually executed. As if there were a team that does not have any ideas to put into practice.
This week, this has been made evident again in the council with the motion of no confidence that has been necessarily presented due to the inability to approve the annual municipal budget. Eleven votes in favour, those of Colau's own political group, and thirty against, those of all the other parties, is a major blow however you choose to look at it. Never in the history of the city have the votes supporting the mayoralty been so few and those of the opposition so numerous. What has happened to the plans to extend the city's tramways, the promises to fight evictions, the moratorium on new hotels, the debate on tourism, the demands of retailers? The list is endless. Not to mention an official silence which has too often been clamorous in the face of the serious political events that are unfolding in Catalonia.
The fact that the electoral law has hampered the presentation of a motion of censure - since the vote is fragmented among six political formations - has not prevented the municipal government from becoming immersed in a state of impoverished politics, while the opposition is incapable of putting together a pact that will break the current deadlock on fundamental strategic projects. In exchange, the mayor's team is offering the people of Barcelona a multiple referendum that is mostly an attempt to compensate for its inability to govern the city and to leave to one side all serious debate on how the city has been run during the current mandate. And at the same time, to keep the staff entertained. Everything instead of governing.