pisarello

Gerardo Pisarello's criticism to king for "constitutional disobedience" prompts Vox to demand politician "be kicked in his ass back to Argentina"

Gerardo Pisarello wants to represent "transformative municipalism"

City council will pay a proportion of social benefits to underprivileged people in the electronic money

Barcelona deputy mayor rejects possibility of creating pact with any other party

The European Investment Bank (EIB) approved on Tuesday a €125 million loan to the Council of Barcelona to build 2,198 affordable houses. The money will help to finance 23 promotions from all over the city and will cover 50% of the projects budget. The rest will be paid through the Council own resources (31%) and other financial sources, including public and private institutions (19%). Gerardo Pisarello, from the Barcelona Council, said that the EIB loan will help the city save up to €45 million in interests, as the financing conditions set by the European Investment Bank are much more favourable than those of other banks. The Council of Barcelona is planning to build 8,800 affordable flats until 2025.

The possibility that two Francoist sculptures may be displayed in Barcelona’s city centre as part of a temporary exhibition has unleashed controversy in the Catalan capital. ‘Franco-Victory-Republic: impunity and urban space’ aims to “force society to think about what Franco’s dictatorship represented” and the “impunity” this period has had “during Spain’s democracy”, explained Barcelona’s deputy mayor, Gerardo Pisarello. However, taking the exhibition to the streets by displaying the Francoist sculpture ‘Victoria’, and an equestrian sculpture of Franco himself, hasn’t gone down well with some political forces and associations in Catalonia. “In this country the executioners were not judged and the victims were not properly buried” stated ERC’s President in Barcelona’s City Hall, Alfred Bosch, adding that he considers the wounds that Franco’s dictatorship provoked not yet healed. 

The City Council of the Catalan capital has announced it will remit 80% of the fine on tourist apartments with no licence located in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella district if the owners put the property up for social housing rent for a minimum of 3 years. Once this period is over, the owner will be able to extend the social rent or pay the remaining 20% of the fine. The City Council explained that the initiative is "a pilot test" in order "to start changing the city's tourist model", as tourists are too concentrated in some areas. This has created some friction with locals, mostly due to some visitors' wild street parties and to the rise in rent prices, as many properties have been transformed into tourist rentals, quite often without a licence. In this vein, the City Council will ask digital platforms such as Airbnb for the identification data of all their rentals in Barcelona. These platforms will be fined for each illegal flat on offer or if they refuse to issue the requested list.