The opposition has ten days to oust Silvia Orriols from the mayor's office

GironaThe countdown begins for the question of confidence that must determine the future of Ripoll City Council. The deadline for opposition parties to approve a motion of censure against Mayor Sílvia Orriols expires in 10 days, but, for the moment, they have not officially reached any agreement. If we do not form an alternative majority before Monday, February 24, the budgets of the municipal government of Aliança Catalana will be automatically approved, without a plenary session or a vote, and Orriols will continue to lead the Ripollés council. After this deadline, the option of a motion of censure would remain open (it is always available to the opposition), but the leader of Aliança would already have approved accounts to carry out the mandate.

The opposition parties –Juntos, ERC, the PSC and the CUP– transmit "optimism" and recognize that there is "a better predisposition of all parties" than on previous occasions to end up reaching an agreement that brings together at least nine councilors. These positive feelings are repeated from the plenary session of the question of confidence that Orriols presented due to the impossibility of gathering a majority for the accounts, at the end of January, but, for now, they have not materialized: there have been conversations and negotiations with all the formations involved, but without any firm document certifying the understanding. The forecast is that the agreement will be sealed and announced next week and, then, an extraordinary plenary session would be called ten days later to formalize the transfer of power.

The key to the arithmetic for the motion of censure to prosper is that Junts and ERC come to an agreement, both with three councilors, given that this is precisely what was not possible after the municipal elections of 2023, then with Manoli Vega at the head of the councilors. Now, since the replacement of Montsina Llimós and with Maria Soldevila as spokesperson, there is better harmony between the two groups and the understanding seems probable. However, the formula for which of the two parties would lead the hypothetical new alternative government is not closed: it is true that the person who has most wanted to capitalise on the option of the motion, at least in her interventions in the municipal plenary sessions, has been the head of the Republican list Chantal Pérez, but Junts x Ripoll received more votes in the municipal elections, so it could end up scared. Beyond ERC and Junts, these days Enric Pérez, from the PSC, has also been mentioned as a possible consensus mayoral candidate, but he does not seem the most likely option.

Assume "failure" or feed "victimhood"

Discretion and caution have been the usual tone during these weeks of talks to address the motion of censure: "low profile" and "slow fire" are the words of the ARA councillors in the negotiations, who have not wanted to generate false expectations or make any statement that would truncate the scenario. Especially after the experience of the municipal elections in May 2023, when cross-leaks, media fuss, constant script twists and interference from the national party leaderships ended torpedoing the possibility of an alternative investiture pact in Orriols.

Likewise, the four parties involved have also maintained caution due to the "complexity" of the situation, aware that the strategy of the leader of the Catalan Alliance of throwing the ball into their court with the question of confidence leaves them little room for manoeuvre: "All the spotlights of the country's politics point to Ripol, who has failed and, in both cases, will try to gain advantage to discredit us," acknowledge sources of the negotiations.