From now on, the Department of Culture of the Vic City Council will also deal with issues related to language. “We believe that Catalan is experiencing a historic moment in the city in which it can enter a phase of regression,” says Albert Castells (Junts), the new mayor. In an interview with ACN, he points out that the Catalan is in “good health”, but there are beginning to be “symptoms” that make them alert.
Led by the councilwoman Bet Piella, the new area will have the objective of guaranteeing that the Catalan language and culture continue to be “the haystack” of social cohesion in the city. Of her predecessor, the now president of the Parliament Anna Erra, Castells claims the fact that she has left a planned city, “that she knows where she is going.”
With this objective, the mayor of Vic, Albert Castells, wants to value the language so that the city fights to maintain it. “In recent years we are experiencing a social transformation at all levels and we must turn on the warning lights to correct the situation so that Catalan continues to be the main language in the city, as it has been historically,” says Castells. For the mayor, it is important to be willing in the world of commerce, business, digital and also the social world so that all those from Vic see Catalan as a “fundamental” tool capable of guaranteeing social cohesion and well-being.
“You just have to walk around Vic and see how there are beginning to be situations in some shops where there is someone who does not understand you or where it is difficult to make themselves understood in Catalan. Or in the signage there is also beginning to be a large presence of the Spanish language,” he explains Castells. This, as he points out, is also beginning to be seen in schoolyards.
The responsibility of the administration, according to Albert Castells, is to create a framework in which the conditions can be met so that citizens can continue living in the historical language of the city and the country. “Having a Vic society that lives around the Catalan language and culture, but logically respecting the dozens of languages ??that exist in the city that are also a wealth for Vic”, he explains.
Broadly speaking, the most important areas of the portfolio are continuist, with councilors Bet Piella (Culture and Language), Núria Homs (Economy and Well-being and Family) and Elisabet Franquesa (Education and Security) as strong women from Castells. As a novelty, the creation of a figure as a spokesperson for the municipal group and the government held by councilor Anna Alemany stands out.
The 28-M elections in Vic left a very diverse consistory with the entry of up to seven parties. This scenario has led Junts to agree with the two councilors of Ara Vic, the local formation of the PDeCAT. Despite this agreement, Albert Castells governs in a minority with only ten of the 21 possible councillors. “The agreement with Ara Vic is a natural pact and I want to value the fact that it leaves us in the minority,” he affirms. “Citizens wanted a very diverse consistory and a government of ten forces us to continue negotiating with the rest of the formations,” he says. However, regarding the addition of a third actor to dress an absolute majority, he does not rule out any scenario.
Precisely because of this need to have to close agreements with other formations to carry out large city projects, Albert Castells defends that “it did not make sense” to establish a minority government pact “down to the last detail”. “The main agreement is for the management of the administration, the management of public services and our city model at a global level”, explains Castells.
The mayor is not in favor of establishing a sanitary cordon in SOMI, the far-right formation that has obtained two councilors in plenary and which is headed by the founder of the extinct Platform for Catalonia, Josep Anglada. “It is a group that is in the consistory and that more than a thousand of Vic have voted for.
“For me the limit is here. When ideas move within the democratic framework and respect for human rights, they are a group that must be listened to and replicated. If they do not come out of these democratic rules and respect for human rights, We will continue in the debates,” he defends.
One of the topics of the mandate will be the start-up of the Patí Vic Club, which on January 1 of this year became municipal after three years in bankruptcy. The Vic City Council and the bank with which the club had debts reached a purchase agreement for 1.1 MEUR, despite the fact that 7 more were needed to rehabilitate the spaces and bring them up to date. The operation of the pavilions for federated sports activities has been maintained from day one, but it has not been possible to open at least one pool for the summer.
“We do the work and we have the money to make the investment, but the administrative process has not allowed it,” explains Castells. The new mayor is very critical of the “obstacles” of the administration when making investments, supplies or purchases. “Urgent reform measures are needed to streamline the administration because that makes us less competitive as a city and in our economy,” he defends. “We will have the pools soon because the money is there, the projects and there are works underway, but it is a matter of time,” he says.
Another of the major issues of the mandate will be the Municipal Market, which is expected to close permanently this summer, pending the requirements that the consistory has made in the concessionaire (Mermuvic). In this way, the council has forced the extinction of a concession that the owners of the stalls had until 2030. On the future of this city facility, once it becomes municipal again, there is still no consensus. On whether to project a new one or whether the building will have to go to the ground, the mayor affirms that “all possibilities are on the table and the new project must be agreed with the commercial sector of the city.”
The mobility problems of the northern access to the city through the Ronda Camprodon will also be one of the workhorses during this legislature in which a special urban plan must be drawn up that contemplates the creation of a new access through the north of the city towards the Vic University Hospital and that the opposition does not see favorably. Castells advocates turning the Ronda Camprodon into an avenue and moving traffic through the Era d’en Sallés and opening an access through the Puig dels Jueus that gives access to the Seminary and the Vic University Hospital, a regional reference hospital.
The president of Parliament, Anna Erra, was mayor of Vic for eight years. From his management, Albert Castells highlights the economic, cultural, sporting and associative “dynamism” that he has left behind. “For me it is a privilege to take over the administration of an economically sound city council. “In addition, Anna Erra left a very well-planned city, with plans and programs approved by a broad consensus. Now what is needed is to deploy it,” says Castells.
