Barcelona mayor offers to work with Catalan and Spanish executives

Barcelona mayor, Ada Colau, said the city council is “fully prepared” to work with the Catalan and Spanish governments to bring in a new “constructive stage of dialogue and reduced tensions.” Speaking in the city hall on Tuesday, Colau called for meetings with presidents Quim Torra and Pedro Sánchez, and she demanded that a more positive phase in relations between Barcelona and Madrid not remain merely “a declaration of intentions.”

Colau also called for jailed Catalan officials to be released and, addressing Sánchez, she asked him for a “humanitarian gesture” and to do “everything possible” to have them moved to Catalan prisons. For Colau, the issue of transferring the prisoners is a priority. “While their release is not possible, at the very least everything can be done to ensure they are moved to Catalan prisons and the mistreatment of their families and loved ones can end,” she said.

In this new stage of dialogue, Colau also called on the two governments to make greater efforts with such issues as housing. Describing the situation in the city as an “emergency,” the mayor called for legislative changes to stop “abusive” rises in rents. Colau also said she wanted to negotiate funding for public transport and nursery schools. Other issues she identified as priorities are homelessness, refugees, and the fight against gender violence.