Remember Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau who in early February announced that she was cutting her city’s ties with its twin city Tel Aviv (Barcelona Cuts Ties with Twin-City Tel Aviv over ‘Apartheid’), and imposing a “temporary suspension” of relations with Israel because the Jewish State practices “apartheid” against Arabs?
Well, the results from the municipal elections that were held on Sunday, May 28, the top winners of the 2023 to 2027 Barcelona City Council are:
Challenger Xavier Trias: 11 council members
The Socialists: 10 members
Incumbent Mayor Ada Colau: 9 members
Trias, 77, a conservative, was unseated by Colau in 2015. Now he’s back.
During her campaign, Colau declared: “There are politicians on the right who constantly question my appearance, my hair, my clothes, my ability, my lack of culture, who say I should be cleaning floors or selling vegetables or fish. But I’m here to change things. It’s true that there’s extra pressure because I’m a woman, but I see this as a part of what has to change.”
OK. So, it’s floors, fruits, or fish for the former mayor.
Ada Colau was indicted by the Spanish judiciary in 2022 for alleged irregularities in the handing of subsidies to entities linked to her party Barcelona en Comú, including to the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages which she founded in 2009. A judge later dismissed a case involving some of the charges against her.
In 2022, the Ethics and Conduct Committee of the Council of Barcelona raised concerns about nepotism in municipal institutions. The Committee produced a report in which it heavily criticized the decision to hire Alicia Ramos, partner of the Housing Councilor, as an advisor to the staff of Ada Colau, on grounds of a potential conflict of interest. The report also stated that Alicia Ramos was not hired following a competitive selection process and that the authorities failed to provide any reasons as to why Ramos was suitable for the role.
Colau, who is very strong on green policy, along with two other council officers, faced accusations of hypocrisy after taking a transatlantic flight to Chile to attend the investiture of Chilean president Gabriel Boric in 2022, followed by a flight to Argentina. A local news outlet estimated the total carbon footprint of their trip at 3,339 kg.
She also faced a backlash in 2020 for driving a car to a radio interview where she advocated using public transportation instead of cars.
And so it goes.
