The situation with Rodalies rail service in Barcelona has become a real challenge for city residents. Disruptions in transport have affected thousands of passengers, sparking a wave of indignation and discontent. Amid this crisis, the city council held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the actions of the regional authorities and the mayor.
Accusations and disagreements
The emergency meeting was initiated by the Junts party, which managed to unite representatives from the ERC and leftist groups around its cause. Following the discussion, a document was adopted sharply criticizing the Catalan government’s (Govern) actions during the transport collapse. Special attention was paid to Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni, who was accused of lacking leadership and being passive during the first days of the crisis.
Nearly all participants in the meeting expressed dissatisfaction that the mayor did not make a public statement immediately after the rail problems began. Collboni, in turn, apologized to passengers and emphasized that the city had strengthened public transport and municipal police efforts. He reminded everyone that he had demanded resignations at the top of transport companies Adif and Renfe, and had publicly condemned the situation.
Political reproaches
Junts deputy Jordi Martí Galvis did not hide his emotions as he accused the mayor of limiting himself to formal messages on social media without showing genuine concern for residents. According to him, the lack of direct powers does not exempt the city government from responsibility for what is happening. Martí Galvis also pointed out that Collboni chose not to clash with his fellow party members from PSC and PSOE in order not to strain relations with the central government.
Leader of the municipal ‘Commons’ group, Gemma Tarafa, stated that the mayor had effectively disappeared from the radar during the height of the crisis. She reproached him for only mentioning infrastructure in the context of the airport, while ignoring issues with mass transit. ERC representative Elisenda Alamany supported the Junts initiative, reminding that previously this party had shown no interest in the Rodalies issues when they were negotiating with the government.
Opposition response
While Barcelona’s main political forces united in their criticism of the regional and city authorities, representatives of Vox and PP took a wait-and-see approach and abstained from voting. This decision raised questions from other attendees, but it did not affect the final adoption of the resolution.
During the discussion, there were calls for more decisive action and the search for new solutions to prevent similar crises in the future. However, so far neither side has proposed a concrete plan to resolve the situation. Residents continue to face disruptions in the Rodalies service, while political debates are only intensifying.
