The Valencia City Council, chaired by the popular María José Catalá, has chosen to suppress the civil baptisms that the previous government team implemented just two months ago. As explained by sources from the consistory in a statement, the Governing Board has approved today to annul the agreement that provided for the celebration of welcoming ceremonies for citizens at the Valencia City Council.
In the text, they recall that the Local Government Board dated April 21, 2023 -with the Government of Compromís and PSPV- agreed to approve the procedures for the celebration of this protocol act, which seven people have requested so far. Thus, on May 8, the then mayor, Joan Ribó, presided over the first ceremony in the city’s Palauet de los Jardines de Monforte.
Municipal sources explained that people who have already requested it will not be affected by this deletion since the measure does not affect them.
Thus, the driving motion states that “the ceremony of welcome to citizenship is a formal or protocol act devoid of legal effects, which shares the venue, calendar, as well as material and personal resources, with those of civil marriage ceremonies, these yes with full legal effects and celebrated by virtue of the attribution of competences that the Civil Code grants to the mayors in its article 51”.
In this context, “it is proposed to initiate processes of administrative simplification and efficiency in the use of public resources” and given that “these ceremonies of welcome to the citizenry are not mandatory services provided by the municipalities” and it is proposed to the Local Government Board its suppression. Of course, the agreement provides for “maintaining the celebration of the ceremonies requested until the date of this agreement, in order to guarantee the commitments acquired and based on the principles of good faith and legitimate trust.”
