Entities Friendly to Ada Colau Receive More Than 13 Million in Subsidies Since 2016

Barcelona's PP has denounced that Jaume Collboni's government has given away 500,000 euros in subsidies to Colauist entities since 2023. The DESC Observatory and Espai Ambiental have been the most benefited with 175,218 and 137,139 euros respectively.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the enrichment of these foundations during the eight years of Ada Colau's government.

2016 was a key year in the consolidation of this constellation of platforms whose mission was to shore up the power of the Comuns in Barcelona.

These entities have continued to act as a shock force for the Comuns in the opposition. This could be the reason why the PSC continues to finance these entities, to avoid breaking social peace.

In 2016, Ada Colau's government multiplied subsidies to friendly entities, especially the DESC Observatory, Enginyeria sense Fronteres, and the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Barcelona (FAVB). The Observatory went from 150,000 euros in 2015 to 254,777 euros in 2016 and 267,016 euros in 2017. Enginyeria sense Fronteres went from receiving 214,437 euros in 2015 to 321,920 in 2016 and 385,175 in 2017.

More than 13 million, and it could be much more

The DESC Observatory has received 1.1 million since 2019 in subsidies, while Enginyers sense Fronteres has taken just over one million. Colau also generously increased the endowment for the FAVB, which in eight years would have received 3.9 million. Colau was part of both the DESC Observatory and the FAVB.

Additionally, there would be other benefited entities such as the Alliance against Energy Poverty (APE) and the Ateneu Cooperatiu de Barcelona (Coòpolis). The latter case was also striking. The then mayor of Barcelona injected 7.4 million euros into the social and cooperative economy companies housed by Coòpolis.

In total, more than 13 million euros that could be much more when adding the rest of the entities and associations close to the Comuns. The former mayor was already investigated at the time for the alleged granting of subsidies to benefit related entities.

A power system

The subsidy scandal exposes how the Comuns tried to shore up their power in Barcelona. It was a system of transferring high positions and favors between the party, the municipal government, and social entities.

The most evident case is that of the DESC Observatory, a non-governmental organization founded in 1998 to defend human rights. In 2009, the entity began to fill with leaders who would later take the reins of the Barcelona city council. Among them were Gerardo Pisarello, Jaume Asens, and Ada Colau herself.

The Observatory served as a laboratory for the transformative policies that Ada Colau's government later applied. The entity defends that "the promotion of human rights by public administrations is synonymous with democratic health." In this case, it has also provided them with an inexhaustible source of income for years.

Another example is Enginyeria sense Fronteres, an entity led for years by the former councilor and currently a deputy in the Cortes, Eloi Badia. This entity joined the DESC Observatory, the PAH, and the APE against the lawsuit for alleged irregularities in the granting of subsidies. They considered it a "political attack" on Ada Colau and the social and cooperative entities of Barcelona.

Collboni maintains the subsidies

The opposition has always harshly criticized this power system with which Colauism wove a client network that was favorable to it in the elections. Jaume Collboni came to the mayor's office in 2023 with the intention of breaking with the Colauist legacy. The left accused him of being closer to Xavier Trias's model than Ada Colau's.

The maintenance of subsidies to Colauist entities questions the willingness to break with the previous stage. Although the reasons could be of a practical order. Dismantling this network of associations close to Colau could uncover an underground war that is not convenient for the PSC.

Despite the current distance between the PSC and Barcelona en Comú, they remain a strategic ally that Collboni doesn't want to lose. Maintaining peace with social entities is also key to the stability of the current government. These entities remain firmly controlled by the Comuns.