The Sant Cugat del Vallès City Council will tighten registration procedures, requiring in-person registration and implementing more administrative controls and police inspections. The municipal government approved a new directive which, as explained this Tuesday by the town's mayor, Josep Maria Vallès, and deputy mayor, Jordi Puigneró, aims to ensure the census "reflects the reality" of the municipality and prevents "fraud." From now on, applicants for registration over the age of 16 will have to complete the process in person, and third-party authorization documents will no longer be valid. This does not mean that digital procedures will be eliminated, but in these cases, registration will not be immediate, as it is necessary to verify residency. In a press conference, Puigneró insisted that with the new instruction—endorsed by the legal services—the city council is "complying with the state law" that regulates the municipal register, and assured that "people who live in the municipality will be registered, not the State." He indicated that Sant Cugat's intention is to "lead the change" so that municipalities comply with the law. In this regard, both councilors indicated that the City Council is simply reinforcing all controls to prevent a recurrence of the situation. Of the 4,000 relevant registrations, some were cancelled. It is impossible to know how many of these are due to legal fraud, people claiming to reside in the municipality without actually doing so, or "administrative negligence" or "oversight" in not processing the cancellation upon moving to a different location, according to Puigneró. This suggests an attempt to deceive the administration when, for example, there are continuous "registrations and cancellations" of residents at an address, or when an "overcrowding" is detected in a dwelling exceeding the number of people indicated on the occupancy certificate.

"Since this plenary session will be broadcast online and can be seen by everyone around the world, and surely many Venezuelans in South America, I will say it in Spanish: From Juntos we celebrate the fall of Mr. Maduro..." Jordi Puigneró, deputy mayor of Sant Cugat del Vallès and former vice president of the Catalan government, justified his switch to Catalan last Friday during the January plenary session. Since then, Puigneró has faced a barrage of criticism on social media for refusing to present his arguments in Catalan. This Tuesday, the Catalan Minister of Language Policy, Francesc Xavier Vila, seized on the situation, pointing out the double standards of the Junts party: "When push comes to shove, the standards they apply to themselves are more lenient than those they demand of others."

Ricard, born in Sant Cugat del Vallès, has lived in Bellaterra for 50 years. At 27, he bought a plot of land and built a house, like many of the residents of this town, part of Cerdanyola del Vallès, which originated in the 1930s when wealthy families from Barcelona and Sant Cugat built summer villas. The children of those families stayed, and in the 1970s, new residents arrived who, like Ricard, began to build their lives and witnessed the founding of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Despite some attempts to become an independent municipality, a third option prevailed: in 2009, the residents succeeded in having themselves recognized as a decentralized municipal entity (EMD), with their own government. However, this status was not enough to pacify Bellaterra, which in 2015... It held an independence referendum where the 'yes' vote won with 94% of the supportThe plan foundered when Parliament vetoed the secession. Following this setback, a residents' committee initiated proceedings to join neighboring Sant Cugat, a process that is now gaining momentum despite staunch opposition from the Cerdanyola City Council, which warns it will fight to avoid losing the territory. "It's normal that they resist. They don't want to lose the goose that lays the golden eggs. And Sant Cugat is letting itself be courted," Ricard summarized in ARA.

A victim's testimony is key to investigating any crime and identifying the suspect, so much so that it can be sufficient evidence for a conviction. However, what happens when the victim is a child and, due to their age, cannot offer a testimony as clear and detailed as an adult? Especially in crimes that are often committed in secret, such as sexual assaults, it is more difficult to determine the perpetrator. In this regard, several Catalan lawyers report that cases of this type often end up closed before the judicial investigation begins, not due to a lack of evidence but because the perpetrator cannot be identified.

Access to housing, First concern of Catalans according to the CEO, is at the centre of the political debate. The left and the right continue to have differences on what to do to lower the price of rent, but all parties seem to agree on one thing: the housing crisis requires that the administrations get their act together and start building public housing after years of immobility. Esquerra and the Comuns made it a condition for investing Salvador Illa, who has committed to enabling 50,000 protected flats in the next five years and announced this Thursday, together with Pedro Sánchez, which will approve on Tuesday a reservation of public land to get to work. In an attempt to find social housing from under the stones, The commons have even approached the Church to propose avenues for collaboration.. On the other side of the hemicycle, Junts is also moving. From Sant Cugat it has launched a new proposal: to reform the Catalan law to require that those who want to opt for social housing have been registered in the municipality for at least ten years. The current regulations establish that the minimum registration period required for applicants cannot exceed three years.