Socialists and JxCat agree coalition deal to govern the region of Barcelona

The Catalan Socialists and pro-independence Junts per Catalunya have reached an agreement to govern the Barcelona regional council together. 

The pact includes that the presidency will be for the Socialists, although who exactly has not been specified. The parties together have 23 deputies, 16 from the Socialists and seven from Carles Puigdemont’s Junts party.

In total, this doesn’t add up to the required absolute majority, therefore the agreement will be passed in the second round when only a simple majority is necessary. 

According to the agreement, both parties justify their positions in the "plurality" and "diversity" of the political options chosen by the citizens of the metropolitan area when choosing their representatives. They also indicate that local elections constitute "a differential event, a singularity."

In addition, they affirm that the next mandate of the region of Barcelona "must continue to focus" on the strengthening of local governments and that their priority must be "their own policies" and "optimization of their own resources."