Barcelona City Council dismisses the director of Cultural Heritage
The council made the decision after a court ruling annulled his appointment.
BarcelonaBarcelona City Council has dismissed Jaume Muñoz as Director of Cultural Heritage. Muñoz was appointed on November 30, 2022, following a public competition held during Ada Colau's term in office. This competition was contested by two of the sixteen candidates. Barcelona's 16th Administrative Court ruled in their favor with a binding ruling. However, nothing is definitive. Muñoz filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, which has yet to be resolved, and therefore the city council, which highly values the work he has done during these three years as Director of Cultural Heritage, could reinstate him.
The controversial point is his experience in management. Muñoz, born in 1990 in Barcelona, holds a degree in History from the University of Barcelona (UB) and an interuniversity Master's degree in Contemporary History from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). From January 2009 to January 2012, he was responsible for access to the entrances on Sant Pau Street and the Espai Liceu of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, a job that he combined with coordinating the Liceu's usher service through the company Manpowergroup Solutions SLU. From October 2016 to January 2017, he was editor-in-chief of The Advance. And, from 2017 to 2022, he worked as a cultural technician at the Barcelona Institute of Culture (Icub).
Awaiting the Supreme Court
The ruling finds that Muñoz's work experience does not meet one of the requirements established by the public competition: three years of managerial experience. According to the ruling, he had not assumed managerial roles in his previous job at Icub. Furthermore, the court continues, neither his experience managing a magazine nor his experience coordinating the access and ushering services of a theater bears any relation to the dissemination or protection of heritage, the management and supervision of assigned resources, the planning of resources for the execution of programs, or the annual forecasting of income and expenses. Furthermore, it finds that other candidates had more experience and, therefore, considers that the right to equal access to public service has been violated. Consequently, it considers Muñoz's appointment void and requires the city council to review the competition criteria and make a new appointment proposal.
The ruling is from October 2023, but its enforcement has not yet been requested. Muñoz has already filed an appeal with the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, which was dismissed. In the appeal, he argues that he met the requirements, as judged by the panel that selected his candidacy, and that it was not a merit-based competition but rather a free appointment.
Muñoz will continue to serve on the council. He has been assigned a new, provisional position: coordinator of cultural projects linked to strategic and memory projects. This position, at level 26 on the civil service ladder, is not a management position. For the time being, the council is without a Director of Heritage and has not yet decided who will replace him, temporarily or permanently, in the position.
