The president of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) and mayor of the Catalan capital, Jaume Collboni; the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull, presided this Friday in the Catalan Chamber over the act for the 15th anniversary of the creation of the AMB, a "country pact" that Collboni considered essential then and now to culminate the democratic dream of former mayor and former president Pasqual Maragall.
Also participating in the commemorative session in the Parliament were the Minister of Industry and Tourism and former mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu; the former president of the Generalitat José Montilla; the former mayor of Barcelona and first president of the AMB, Xavier Trias, and the rapporteur of the law in the Parliament and former minister, Anna Simó.
The AMB was born after the unanimous approval in the Parliament, in July 2010, of the law that constituted it, and a year later, in July 2011, after the municipal elections, the first metropolitan government was formed.
Currently, the metropolitan administration brings together 36 municipalities in the Barcelona area, totals 3.4 million inhabitants over 636 square kilometers and concentrates 42% of the population of Catalonia and 52% of the country's GDP.
The event was attended by the mayors of the municipalities integrated into the AMB, the president of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Lluïsa Moret, members of the Parliament Bureau, representatives of the parliamentary groups and the former president of the Generalitat Artur Mas, among other authorities.
Jaume Collboni
Collboni stressed that the agreement that gave rise to the metropolitan entity was complex, but essential, as it allowed "to overcome distrust and look to the future" and to suture a fracture in the governance of Catalonia that today has become a unique model of governance on an international scale, an object of study and reference.
He defended that the AMB adjusts to a specific geographical, economic and demographic reality, but also to "a feeling of belonging, surely diffuse and with movable borders," and that it demonstrates that acting in a metropolitan key is part of the answer to challenges such as housing, mobility or climate change.
The mayor has recognized, like most speakers, the contribution of the executive vice-president of the AMB since 2011 and mayor of Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona), Antonio Balmón, in promoting and consolidating the metropolitan structure, and has praised his generosity, as well as Barcelona's role at the head of the presidency.
In this context of concessions and agreements, he recalled the paradox that Trias assumed the first presidency of the entity: "The first mayor of Barcelona that CiU had in democracy was the first president of the AMB, which had a PSC majority. But generosity and shared vision went so far as to accept that the president would be the mayor, regardless of the party."
He also highlighted the work to soon present the Metropolitan Urbanistic Master Plan (PDU) and pointed out that another challenge for the AMB and the rest of the institutions will be the "political and institutional response" to the second metropolitan crown, which he referred to as the Barcelona of 5 million inhabitants.
Salvador Illa
Illa has championed the value of pacts in politics and the need to adapt governance structures to each reality, whether it be the metropolitan environment or rural municipalities: "Because the country is everything," he said, emphasizing that if Barcelona cooperates with the whole of Catalonia, and vice versa, the country is unstoppable.
He argued that the appropriate scale and good governance allow administrations to be more effective in providing services to citizens, and added: "The AMB is an exercise in municipal federalism. And we must do the same today in Europe."
Furthermore, he maintained that Barcelona, together with the AMB and the Generalitat, practices an "inclusive capital city," something that, for those who know how institutions work, he pointed out, is decisive when designing effective public policies.
Josep Rull
Rull thanked that the tribute was held in the Parliament, considering that it demonstrates that the Chamber promotes a "modernizing agenda" in terms of territorial organization, land use planning, and care for people.
The unanimity with which the law creating the AMB was approved, a rare occurrence, has been highlighted, and it has been argued that the consensus remains: "The political direction of the institution is shared by four different political parties, PSC, Junts, Comuns, and ERC, and I dare say it has the complicity of other political forces such as the PP or independent formations."
At the same time, he has warned that Catalonia must be able to "give play" to medium-sized cities and foster cooperation to avoid a Catalonia of two, three, or four speeds, with an AMB that leads, but also accompanies the rest of the territory.
Hereu, Montilla, Trias and Simó
Hereu recalled that 15 years ago the Parliament "institutionalized through a law a long-standing desire of the entire metropolitan reality," and that in that process all parties made concessions, but that today the debate no longer revolves around the institution itself, but around the challenges it faces in housing, environment, or transport.
Montilla recalled that they drafted the norm with a long-term perspective and that, from the 'tripartit', they also wanted to involve the main opposition party, CiU, in addition to giving a central role to local representatives: "They are the ones who will use the law, who know the problems better than anyone."
Trias emphasized the generosity of the actors involved and that there was a clear conviction that Barcelona "needed recognition for having the presidency" of the entity, and expressed his wish that internal consensus be maintained regardless of who governs the city.
Finally, Simó recounted that, at the time of processing, all actors had reservations and fears that were gradually diluted, and that among the small municipalities there was concern about the possibility of a "metropolitan super-government" acting as a counter-power, but that ultimately all local realities were taken into account.