Barcelona already has budgets for 2026. The city council of the Catalan capital automatically approved them this Monday, after the opposition did not present any candidate for mayor following the defeat of Jaume Collboni in the question of confidence last month and there was therefore no motion of censure. Therefore, the new accounts will come into effect on January 1st.
This is the second time that the first mayor uses the question of trust to have his public finance project approved and the third who does so by non-ordinary means. Collboni had to resort to the question of confidence in 2024, when he only had the support of the ERC, while in 2025 they were extended. Today, those for next year were approved again for a question of confidence.
The Collboni government’s project for 2026 is 4.180 million euros, or 8.4% more than those for 2025. The positions focus on housing, personal care, inequalities and security. During his presentation, the fourth deputy mayor of the Economy, Jordi Vallsstressed that it is an “ambitious” budget which exceeds 4 billion for the first time. ““This reflects our city project,” he added.
The largest investment in the accounts will be dedicated to assisting people to guarantee the provision of public services and to social policies to combat inequalities, with a total expenditure of 994.9 million. They highlight policies in favor of children, investments in the maintenance of sports areas or policies for the promotion of Catalan.
Housing policy is also one of the priorities and that is why more investments are expected in this area. Concretely, 239.1 million euros will be allocated to housing, 33% more than this year. Among these millions, 84 million will be invested in the promotion and management of public parks, 50 million will be allocated to the rehabilitation of housingand 20 million will be reserved to exercise the rights of first refusal and withdrawal.
Another key point of the Accounts concerns public transport, to which 266.9 million euros. With this position, it is planned to maintain contributions to subsidize ATM titles, to expand the Bicing service with 1,000 new bicycles and complete the tram connection along Diagonal.
The budget too will spend 430.6 million on security, as it remains the biggest problem for the majority of Barcelonans. With this project, 100 new Urban Guard agents will be incorporated and progress will be made in the installation of 1,000 video surveillance cameras in the city to prevent crimes.
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