Rita Barberá presents her candidacy for mayor of Valencia in 2011. Carles Francesc
The PP-governed Valencia City Council, thanks to the support of Vox, will recognize Rita Barberá, PP councilor of the capital for 24 years, with the appointment posthumously after her death in 2016 as honorary mayor of the capital. To be final, the decision to which the opposition is opposed must go through the plenary session of the municipality, but the approval of the councilors of the far-right faction in the Culture Commission ensures the distinction. Mayor María José Catalá pays tribute to Barberá after she, like the other deputies of the Valencian Cortes, including those of the PP, asked the former city councilor to renounce her senatorial status seven years ago because she was accused in court of money laundering, “for the dignity to protect the representation of Valencians.”
The honorary appointment was approved this Tuesday by the Cultural Commission of the Valencia City Council, along with other honors and awards that the City Council bestows on people and organizations linked to the city on the occasion of October 9, Valencian Community Day. The recognition is given to Valencia’s longest-serving mayor – from 1991 to 2015 – “for bringing the city to a level of international importance and urban well-being not known before or after her term in office.”
“It is simply that the city appropriately recognizes the work of a person who has dedicated more than 20 years of his life to this city council,” said María José Catalá, after emphasizing that Barberá “deserves every recognition for his quiet work “, calm, very.” effective and has changed the city of Valencia in a way it had never been changed before.” “I think it’s fair,” he said, calling for “consensus” on this decision because “everything is to be politicized.” “a problem”. “These are non-ideological issues that seek general consensus and respect for the people who have done their work for this city council,” he emphasized.
Joan Ribó, current spokesman for Compromís and former mayor of the capital, has reiterated, as on previous occasions, that he does not agree with the recognition of Barberá because, after 24 years as mayor, he “fully respects” her and “her family respected”. is currently facing charges for matters directly related to her time as First Mayor. “What happens if these people happen to be convicted of corruption related to Barberá?” asked the Valencian city council, hoping to wait for “these things to be clarified”. Ribó reminded the current mayor of her election seven years ago: “Whether she likes it or not, Catalá voted against Rita Barberá as senator. It’s in history, in the newspapers, and no matter how much you want to hide it, it’s there. Now they are ashamed.”
Socialist spokeswoman and former deputy mayor Sandra Gómez agrees with Ribó that “it is not the best time” to recognize Barberá because “his years in government and the question of whether he used public money to finance his election campaigns are being assessed.” “It’s not a small problem,” he emphasized. “Unless all the judicial problems related to his reign are resolved, this is not appropriate,” Gómez concluded.
The mayor has responded to the opposition that the former councilor has been relieved of all responsibility in a legal case and regrets that the opposition is apologizing for not supporting her public recognition. Isabel Bonig, president of the PP in 2016, and María José Catalá herself have publicly admitted that the PP treated the former mayor unfairly.
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to
The case known as Smurfing, in which fifty PP councilors and employees, including Barberá, were investigated, resulted in the former mayor, who lost the municipal leadership in June 2015 in favor of a governing coalition of Compromís, PSPV and Podemos, being expelled from the Supreme Court be examined by the Court. This judicial investigation, archived after his death in November 2016, forced his departure from the caucus and his entry into the Senate’s Mixed Caucus after Barberá did not want to give up his record.
Back to the place name
In the same commission, PP and Vox agreed to promote the change of the previously single name of the city of Valencia with the double bilingual name “Valéncia” in Valencian and “Valencia” in Spanish, according to the standards of El Puig, Lo Rat Penat and the Royal Valencian Language Academy (they consider Valencian to be an independent language from Catalan). The place name has a serious or open accent in Valencian according to the rules of the Valencian Language Academy (AVL), contrary to what PP and Vox now want to emphasize. Compromís has already announced that it will request a report.
With this agreement, the name change process begins and, after the necessary reports on the change of the city name, it will be discussed at a regular meeting of the plenary session of the City Council. Once the plenary agreement has been transmitted to the Generalitat, the Consell will, by decree, finally approve the official bilingual name of the city of Valencia.