Catalan president and Barcelona mayor commit to budget talks

The Catalan president, Quim Torra, and the Barcelona mayor, Ada Colau, have agreed to discuss the budgets of both institutions from September. 

In a meeting held in the government headquarters on Tuesday, both agreed on the need to pass public spending plans for both institutions, as neither were able to do so in 2018 or 2019.

For Colau, having budgets is essential so that basic services don’t work “below minimum.”

The heads of both administration met for the first time since Barcelona’s mayor held on to power after the May 26 local election, and both committed to engaging in “sufficient dialogue” in order to pass the budgets. 

Colau’s party, Barcelona en Comú (BeC), is governing with the Socialists, and she might need the support of some pro-independence party, like Torra’s JxCat, to pass her budget. 

At the same time, Catalonia is being governed by JxCat and Esquerra, but they will need some other party to pass the bill – for instance, Catalunya en Comú, the sister party of BeC, which ruled out backing it for 2019.