The ‘popular’ mayoress of Valencia, María José Catalá, has revealed the structure of the municipal government, which is divided into ten large areas plus one for the Mayor’s Office from where Large Projects, Tourism, Innovation and Investments will be coordinated. Vox will not have a presence in this executive, which will, however, be a “preferred partner”.
In fact, as denounced by the opposition, the four Vox councilors in the consistory will have exclusive dedication despite not having responsibilities in the local government. “The greatest proof that Vox is going to be part of this government is that Mrs. Catalá has given all Vox councilors the maximum salary despite being formally in the opposition,” denounced the socialist Borja Sanjuán.
In the new configuration of the government, services and delegations that were previously separated are grouped together with the aim of having a “more simplified, coordinated and efficient structure”. At the head of the councils will be in the hands of the 13 councilors of the PP who in most cases will lead more than one delegation.
The new government creates a general directorate for people with disabilities that will depend on the Mayor’s Office and also a Social Welfare office within the Health and Consumption delegation, which did not exist because the Department did not have any attached service.
Also as a novelty, the Mobility and Citizen Security delegations will be within the same area and will have a general director of Mobility. At the same time, a specific Registry and Population service has been created to coordinate the municipal register “and that the queues do not return to the sun”, municipal sources emphasize.
Catalá has defended that this City Council now “has a solid, sensible PP government that has formed a simpler structure, but one that is more efficient and faster for the citizens and that is going to unblock many blocked issues.”
In this sense, he said that in the analysis of the situation of the institution, he found “delegations that did not have a true organizational structure behind them, split or pending services from different delegations and stuck issues”. Here he has mentioned the activity and works licences, “which depended on two different councils belonging to two different parties”, or the works and maintenance service, “which was completely split”.
To avoid these issues, the mayor is committed to unifying and creating a single General Directorate of Licenses “to unblock all the collapse of activity and works licences.” The Works and Maintenance service will join and, in addition, the Registration and Population service will be created, which will be in charge of the census, “because in other stages it has generated problems and we want it to be one of the best services with a specific department for this matter”, has affected.
Questioned by the media about the role of Vox and the fact that its four councilors will have full dedication, the mayoress has assured that “nobody” escapes that Vox is “the preferred partner” and that “it will also” support in this new organization.
Regarding whether the change of name of some councils, such as LGTBI Rights, which will now form part of the Equality delegation, responds to some requirement of Vox as a “preferred partner”, the first mayor has denied it and has commented that some departments have been “renamed” because “there were some with some names that were difficult to put on a card.”
In any case, he has explained that the government structure is due to his way of seeing things and the way his government works and has argued that “nobody” has imposed “nothing” on them. “We have done things as we have considered, adopting our needs and what we thought was our way of running the town hall,” she stressed.
In this line, he has guaranteed that in the Equality delegation “the work in defense of LGTBI rights will continue to be developed, as it has done up to now”, to which he has added that “the government has a totally clear commitment to the defense of the rights of LGTBI people”.
For his part, the spokesman for Vox in the Valencia City Council, Juanma Badenas, has indicated that his formation is not “at the moment” in the municipal government and that it only has a “functional” role. In any case, she has once again shown the “outstretched hand” of this party to the PP mayoress, María José Catalá, to “achieve a stable, strong and effective government.”
