The Ajuntament de Barcelona has entrusted the Asociación de Estudios para el Desarrollo Comunitario to begin a process of intermediation between native local traders and other immigrant traders in the Casc Antic area of the city. The intermediation has been called for in order to solve various conflicts which have been detected between the two groups.

According to one of the mediators the problem is always the same: ‘local native shopkeepers who have been here all their lives blame the incoming immigrants for a crisis in their sector and what is generally a conflict of economic interests can degenerate into outbreaks of racism’.

The climate of general mistrust is not helped by rumours of the supposed illegal activities of immigrants, many of whom are said to be non-taxpayers and in breach of standard trading timetables. However, according to Antonio Carmona, the town councillor responsible for the ‘Plan de Convivencia de Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona)’, ‘the immigrants pay their taxes like everyone else because if they didn’t the inspectors would close down their businesses.’

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