Scandal in Vilanova del Vallès: betrayal and a new mayor celebrated by Aliança Catalana
Josep Casals breaks with his own party and allies with historic rivals
BarcelonaVilanova del Vallès chains weeks of betrayals, corruption accusations, uncovered negligence projects and a motion of no confidence held this Tuesday by the hand of some renegade councilors who were in the current municipal government, but who left two weeks ago and have been rewarded with the mayoralty. Josep Casals was sworn in as mayor this Tuesday after breaking with his party and thanks to an agreement with the historic rival in the municipality. Furthermore, as ARA has been able to learn, Casals is being courted by Aliança Catalana to become the party's candidate in the next municipal elections. However, it is not yet "closed" even though work is being done on it, according to party sources. He clarifies that he is not "in contact with anyone" for this purpose, although Aliança Catalana's interest in the municipality is evident, according to sources consulted by ARA.
If the agreement is finalized, it would be another notable signing for Sílvia Orriols' party because in this case he would be a sitting mayor, something they had not achieved until now. Contacted by ARA, Casals comments that next year's elections are not "the issue now" and after the motion, "when the time comes," he will make a statement. He takes refuge in the fact that he has not received an "official" proposal – even though this newspaper has confirmed that there have been conversations – and what he asks for is time to explain himself, also regarding the 2027 candidacy. Regarding the relationship with AC, his version at the moment is this: "We can talk to any party and attend to them given the events that have led us here, but in no case are we in the process of joining any party, currently." He does link the motion to disagreements with the then-mayor, Roser Colomé, and the municipal team of Impulsem Vilanova. Until now, he has governed with the six councilors of Impulsem and two from the PSC, with whom he made a pact.
The shadow of doubt
The main accusations that are being made are of corruption. The now former mayor, who belongs to a local party with a convergent trajectory, assures in conversation with ARA that "there are economic interests" to carry out the motion. And she elaborates: "It is unfair that some defectors let themselves be bought. They are giving the government to Unitat per Vilanova with a councilor indicted with an oral trial for an urban planning offense," comments Colomé about Yolanda Lorenzo, former mayor and member of Unitat. She is being investigated by court 3 of Granollers for the reclassification of some land in a green area to urbanize it and build a car park and an area for supermarket trolleys.
Furthermore, Casals was in charge of a key area such as economic development, while the other defector, Xavier Fernández, had been on sick leave since September of last year due to illness. According to Colomé, Casals always voted for everything with the government team and did not express any disagreement until fifteen days ago when he announced the motion. Another economic element she cites is that "councilor Casals has tried to carry out some real estate operation", but that the municipal government denied it because "there is no planning".
And there is still another issue that complicates matters: "Everything blows up [the motion] when we close the quarry", the construction materials recycling plant of Acciona, closed at zero cost and which they now wanted to re-naturalize. Specifically, on Monday, June 29, a plenary session is held in which a report on the quarry is presented, explaining that, after twenty years of operation, "the City Council has realized that it has been working irregularly and has not paid taxes". "The next day there is the motion," comments the mayor until now, who adds that she has received notification that the management that was in charge of the Vilanova plant has resigned en bloc after this scandal.
Beyond this, Colomé maintains that a councilor from Unitat who will join the municipal government, Abelardo López, is "implicated" by the labor relationship with Acciona when he was part of the council from the urban planning department. In parallel, the until now mayoress, who had broken the two-decade reign of Unitat, the main rival, laments that "defectors give economic excuses, but no problem with those charged." Apart from teamwork, some of the arguments that Casals and Fernández have verbalized to challenge the municipal government are the high level of debt or the loss of subsidies, although Colomé maintains that the debt is inherited from previous executives – he assures that he reached the mayoralty already with a debt of 5.2 million and 630,000 euros in annual interest to pay – and the situation has improved slightly in interest payments without the council having to be intervened. In the plenary session, Casals also mentioned "the authoritarian drift" of the council.
One of the factors that Colomé also mentions is Aliança Catalana, about which he has heard that it has gone to look for Casals, as confirmed by ARA. The councilor and future mayor since this Tuesday has specified to this newspaper that they are "open to talking with everyone" to explain the motion, "but once the plenary session has taken place." He also explains that they are "especially difficult days" in which he has received "very harsh attacks".
