This is how Silvia Orriols governs in Ripoll: without a sanitary cordon and with a tense relationship with the opposition

Girona"There is no cordon sanitaire in Ripoll," he said. This Tuesday, Junts councillor Ferran Raigon after her party backed out at the last minute of the motion of censure to oust the far-right mayor Sílvia Orriols. In fact, since the leader of Aliança Catalana has occupied the highest position in the Ripoll council, there has never been a cordon sanitaire. To date, 25 plenary sessions have been held, with more than a hundred motions on the agenda, most of them presented by the governing team. She has not managed to approve any that linked immigration and insecurity, as she has repeatedly tried and, of the rest, many have ended up being rejected as a result of the minority of Aliança Catalana in the municipal plenary. But Orriols has not lived politically isolated in this last year and a half in Ripoll. In fact, it was common for her to approve motions with the votes of one or another opposition party. The party that voted most often with Aliança was, precisely, Junts.

More than ten times, the councillors have distanced themselves from ERC, the PSC and the CUP and have supported proposals from Aliança, often also with the support of the Som-hi Ripoll councillor, who comes from a split from Junts. They have done so on issues relating to taxes, investments, energy, urban planning, housing and business, making it clear that, at least in economic matters, both parties do not present too many differences and are on the same bench within the classic difference between right and left. The three Ripoll councillors from Carles Puigdemont's party have endorsed strategic issues of Sílvia Orriols' mandate, such as the modification of the urban plan in the southern area of Caselles, to expand the neighbourhood with new housing in an area of fields. It has also allowed an agreement with the Eduard Soler Foundation to favour real estate promotion in publicly owned buildings.

However, by aligning itself with Aliança Catalana on issues that the party considers "good for Ripoll", Junts has not disobeyed any previously agreed promise or cordon sanitaire because, in Ripoll, the five opposition forces have never explicitly agreed on an "anti-fascist pact", such as the Antifascist Pact.

Together and Alianza, aligned on economic issues in Ripoll

The rapprochement of Junts i Aliança in economic matters was also evident in this year's budget, when the councilors, like ERC, showed themselves willing to negotiate them with Sílvia Orriols if her requests were incorporated. Finally, in the extraordinary plenary session in January, both parties voted against. In the case of Junts, they acknowledged that they were positive accounts and that they did not endorse them due to the "forms" and the "tense tone" that the mayor usually uses. Orriols often reproached the Junts councillors that their mayor, Jordi Munell, had left the City Hall "ruined". Orriols could not approve the 2024 budgets, but those for 2025 will be approved from Monday, once the opposition's motion of censure has failed, so she will have an important tool to do what she has promised to do. The accounts, which will manage a total amount of 15.3 million euros, have security and cleanliness, with the hiring of more staff and services, as the main lines of expenditure, as well as popular culture, promoting events such as weddings with farmers and pubs.

If Orriols has been belligerent with the Junts councillors, he has been even more so with those of ERC, PSC and CUP and the usual tone of the plenary sessions has been tension and the exchange of reproaches. To the point that, on more than one occasion, the opposition parties asked for the attention of the secretary, after receiving insults or disregard off-mic from the mayor or one of her councillors.

Despite the more or less specific agreements with Junts, it is true that, in general terms, the 6 Aliança councillors have been left alone in most of the votes they have proposed. Above all on issues of security and immigration, in which they are much tougher than the rest of the parties, or in the motions proposed by the opposition by Esquerra, PSC or CUP, in favour of tolerance and coexistence. There have also been unanimous votes on a dozen occasions, but all of them had little political content, focusing mainly on administrative and organisational issues.