The race for the next municipal elections in Barcelona is more than started. One year after the appointment with the polls, ABC begins a series of interviews with municipal leaders to analyze the state of the city. Luz Guilarte, local president of Ciudadanos, hopes to be able to repeat as a candidate, something that her formation will decide in the coming months, and she shows her chest for having spent “three years working for a project to reverse the misgovernment of the ‘de facto’ tripartite that exists in Barcelona ».
—How do you see the city after three years of a particularly strange mandate and in view of a summer in which the usual problems appear?
-These last years have been the consolidation of the disaster of ‘colauism’ and its partners, but in the previous mandate the foundations were laid until this degradation.
It has been a constant drip of bad policies. Colau has eroded Barcelona: it is even shattering the Cerdà plan.
—There is talk again of insecurity and dirt in the streets…
—And this shows that there has been neither political will nor management nor project. The pandemic has taught administrations to reconsider, plan and put solutions on the table, but not here. How is tourism going to come if the experience you get is that you get robbed in Barcelona? You just have to look at the recent case with the pilot Vettel… We have to send the message that in this city there is zero tolerance for those who break the rules and we have to reverse the problem of dirt, because Barcelona is increasingly abandoned.
—What role do you attribute to the PSC in this situation?
-We are still looking for the PSC in the City Council, but deep down it is characterized, and that is why it is always embedded in all areas of power in Catalonia, for not appearing when it is needed but touching quotas of power. The PSC has been the necessary leg for Colau and the independentistas to make Barcelona a bargaining chip for their party pacts.
– Will the bipartite of commons and socialists last until May 2023?
—Until now, Colau is ERC and the PSC is always there acting as a troupe. I already told Jaume Collboni in 2019 that she would not be mayor with our votes and that is why we broke the coalition with Manuel Valls. If a formation has a modern, innovative project for Barcelona, based on transparency and good management, Cs will be there to support it. But for now, we are the only ones capable of guaranteeing an antidote to ‘colauism’.
—And will Colau resist with all the legal cases that he has open?
—Fortunately, we have a judicial system that is above what Mrs. Colau likes or dislikes and that will say what is legal and what is not. In any case, we believe that her history of suspicious cases is shameful for her, and that is why I have asked her to resign and Collboni, if he has respect for her in Barcelona, to break up with her. It is unsustainable to be governing with a person who only represents himself and his interests. Our city does not deserve to have an imputed mayor. In addition, there must be an ethical responsibility of anyone who holds public office.
“Will you be the Cs candidate?”
—The organs of our party have to make these decisions. I hope to have the support of the party and the militancy. We have clear lines regarding security, cleanliness, public space order and mobility and balanced taxation. In addition, we have a team with pro-European people, from the center and from true progress, and not from that ‘posh progressive’ that some maintain and which is actually ‘regressive’.
“Will we have a Manuel Valls-style surprise?”
—Ciudadanos has entity, project and leadership to be able to opt for elections with our own brand. It is the most solid: the rest would be saddlebags that one does not need.
-In a few days the announcements of other parties have already begun…
—The movements are logical, they are made by all the parties. In any case, perhaps others do not have a project and that is why they select candidates, but the most important thing is to have a project, which is what we already have. And I will be delighted to lead it again.
—Formations like Valents are recruiting among your militancy. Do you fear more casualties?
—What other groups do, they will know. For us, the important thing is that a series of values are respected and complied with and those that are involved in the marketing of securities, and in many cases of acts, do not adapt to our principles. The Cs project is the ‘anti-colauism’ par excellence and anyone who is willing, as has happened, to go from not supporting their budgets to approving them or wanting to close unsuccessful pacts and support their policies cannot be in Ciudadanos.
—Isn’t it a new lost opportunity that the constitutionalist vote is dividing?
-It is that there is no constitutionalist vote more useful and project for Barcelona than that of Cs. It is normal that before elections there are groups, twilights and platforms but what can be objectified is that Cs is the center force that represents the liberal and pro-European space and coherence. We are the ones who can bring together the ‘anti-Colau’ vote, which is going to be what is decided in 2023. Because, in the end, if there is more Colau there will be more ERC and if there is more ERC there will be more Colau. And if the PSC will not come with its recipes of yesteryear and sociovergence. They are outdated models and I don’t want the Barcelona of the 90s: I want the Barcelona of current solutions and a vision of the future.
—And with the PSC, can you imagine a pact so that there is an alternative to Colau or Maragall?
—It is that the PSC is always the PSC. The day after the elections I already proposed that they work together but Collboni preferred alternation. Or with Colau or with Colau and ERC. We are not alternation, we are the alternative. And after the elections I will be delighted that Mr. Collboni agrees to join the project that Barcelona needs. If he wants a city of true progress and future, surely we will reach agreements and consensus.
