The Círculo Ecuestre hosted on Monday, March 20, the colloquium La Barcelona que funciona, led by Xavier Trias, former mayor of Barcelona and Junts candidate in the municipal elections. The act gave the starting signal to the cycle Alcaldables, which aims to collect the vision of the candidates for the municipal elections in the Catalan capital.

After the presentation by the president of the Círculo Ecuestre, Antonio Delgado, the politician held a dialogue with Joaquín Luna, a journalist and columnist, an expert on elections, from La Vanguardia, who moderated the event.

The former mayor, against the policies of Ada Colau

The leader of Junts in Barcelona began the presentation lamenting that there are "many people tired and extraordinarily angry with Ada Colau's style of governance." Following this statement, the candidate for the municipal elections wanted to emphasize that he will not accept the votes of the leader of the comuns: "I will not be the mayor of Barcelona with Colau's votes."

Xavier Trias, who was mayor of Barcelona between 2011 and 2015, expressed to the members of the Círculo Ecuestre his “need” to promote the economy in the city: “I only understand the fight against poverty in Barcelona by creating economic activity and promoting the creation of Job positions". “Ada Colau is against the powerful and against economic activity and that is very detrimental to the city,” he added.

During the event, Trias was opposed to the expansion of the tramway on Avenida de la Diagonal and the pacification of some streets. He also took a position in disagreement with the reform of the Rambla. Likewise, he advocated for the expansion of the airport, for the creation of the Hermitage Museum and for a reformulation of tourism: "Barcelona must be able to promote and campaign for the tourism that we want". “I don't want low cost tourism. We need luxury tourism, although that does not mean that we are against family, cultural tourism, etc."

Trias talks about future measures

Security was another aspect that the moderator wanted to include in the interview. Xavier Trias, asked about the perception of insecurity, argued that "the city is not as bad as we think". “The people of Barcelona are outraged and have lost their self-esteem. This is the result of a wrong approach.” “Barcelona is a leading city that, today, does not respond to the interests of its citizens”, he added.

 

Regarding the reservation of 30% of the construction of officially protected housing that has been carried out during Colau's term, Trias stated that "it has been done in good faith, but it has not turned out well: it has generated a paralysis of the construction in our city." In this line, he opted for "building municipal apartments with public-private management at an affordable price", facing his possible mayor's office.

Government agreements?

The former mayor revealed to the attendees that his "first measure as mayor" will be to "visit the Fundació Arrels to give them all my support and thank them for their work", alluding to the non-profit entity that watches over the rights of people without home. Finally, Xavier Trias got wet before the possibility of having government partners. The Junts candidate expressed that "there are two parties with which the possibility is open: PSC and Esquerra Republicana", to which he affirmed that he would accept "Jaume Collboni as deputy mayor". "I do not plan to agree with people who do not believe in economic activity and private initiative," he concluded.