Josep Maria Vila d'Abadal: "Together you should never agree with Silvia Orriols"

BarcelonaJosep Maria de Abadal was mayor of Vic from 2007 to 2015, coinciding with the rise of Plataforma por Cataluña (PxC), led by Josep Anglada. When he arrived at the council, the far right was the second largest force, but after his mandate it disappeared. Now it has two again. Villa de Abadal was also president of the Association of Municipalities for Independence.

He was mayor during the rise of the far right in Vic. Plataforma per Catalunya was the second largest force in 2007. How did he deal with it?

— When I arrived, I was shocked: How is it possible that in Vic the second municipal force is Plataforma? Josep Anglada was radical, violent... But he got in because he went to the neighbourhoods where there was immigration and worked with them. And the City Council didn't do it. In the Remei neighbourhood, for example, he managed to get people to say: "call Anglada, he'll sort it out" if there was any conflict, issues of coexistence, such as noise from neighbours. He brought it up in the plenary session. Those people felt neglected and the City Council had to attend to them and also integrate the immigrants. That's why we set up a system of civic agents and a lawyer. The local police too, but in the background. Here Joan López, from ERC, helped me a lot. You have to go to the neighbourhoods, set rules of coexistence, from democracy and humanism.

But in the following elections Anglada still won over one councillor.

— I was on the verge of giving up, but in the end I stayed. In the first term we created a tripartite government of CiU, ERC and PSC that was very powerful. Then I governed with ERC. We created a neighbourhood plan worth 8 million euros, we turned the Remei neighbourhood into the best in Vic. Duran and Lleida and Sánchez Llibre helped me a lot with money from Madrid from the state budget. The basic thing is: if you have the extreme right at home it is because there is something you have not done well. If you act, you will not have space; you can go around saying nonsense, but you will end up dying. All this costs money. Catalonia must spend if you want to integrate it.

In 2015 he disappeared.

— They disappeared because they fought like beasts among themselves and because I did the work. Anglada was also voted for by many people from CiU, who were from the centre.

If he says they were from the centre of Vic, Anglada did not go up only for reasons of coexistence in the neighbourhoods.

— What feeds the extreme right is the situation in the peripheries. As in the suburb of Paris with Le Pen. But what is more difficult is to explain to the well-off people that immigration is caused by them, with their businesses, their bars, those who take care of their grandparents... and there is also racism and classism.

You were also controversial because you said you would not register illegal immigrants.

— I said that if an immigrant came without identification, he would be reported to the police. Reporting means informing the person who has the authority, which is customs. To register a person I have to know who he is and where he comes from.

Isn't reporting them to the police treating them as criminals?

— It's just to know who they are. I think it's logical that if you don't know who a person is, you don't register them, and the police have to tell you. That's how we find wanted people, sometimes. We have to be welcoming and hospitable, but also serious. If we don't do this, the far right takes advantage of it.

What differences do you think exist between Platform and Alliance?

— One notable thing is that Anglada was a supporter of the Spanish Nationalist Party and Silvia Orriols is an independentist. And also that Orriols bases his discourse on going against Islam and uses the Catholic religion to create a state, when religion should not exist in any way. And Orriols feeds on the attack of 17-A because the Ripoll City Council did not do its job and neither did the Government.

Do you think Junts should have supported the motion of censure against Silvia Orriols in Ripoll? Did they ask you for advice?

— Not at all. She is the one who had the most votes and should be mayor. And yes, I told Junts that the motion of censure was going against the people.

But it is a democratic instrument. What about the risk of rights being violated while she is in power?

— That's why the courts exist. In a small town, a vote of no confidence is not liked. What they should do is win it by working hard for these four years, and I think they are not doing that. Furthermore, a majority that includes Junts and the CUP is not operative.

Well, this majority is the one that governed Catalonia in 2017.

— And it has gone terribly. It makes no sense, and that is why the people do not understand it. Those who vote for Junts do not vote for the CUP and those who vote for the PSC do not vote for the CUP. If they only govern to go against Silvia Orriols, it will become more important.

And looking ahead to the 2027 municipal elections, should Aliança together count on votes to form a government or reach the mayoralties?

— Never. You have to make the extreme right useless by doing the job well. It is better for them to go into opposition than to make a pact with Silvia Orriols. No way. Not everything is worth it to rule.