The Valencia City Council, governed by PP and Vox, is left without a declaration of support for 8M

The plenary session of the Valencia City Council in the session on February 27, in which the councilors observed a minute of silence for the victims and those affected by the fire in the Campanar building.Manuel Bruque (EFE)

This year there is no institutional declaration of support from the Valencia City Council for 8M, International Women's Day.

The PP had reached an agreement with the two opposition groups, Compromís and PSPV, on a text of recognition of the protest anniversary, but the change promoted by Vox and approved yesterday Wednesday in the municipal employment foundation, which erases the active occupation policies specifically directed to women, has dynamited the consensus.

The municipal government, of PP and Vox, has voted against an alternative declaration from the opposition, which demanded that this modification be corrected, and later the opposition and Vox have overturned the original proposal that was only defended by the PP.

One day before the plenary session today, Thursday, the board of the Valencia Activa Foundation, which directs the ultra political formation, agreed to modify the founding purposes of its statutes to “de-ideologize” them and “better adapt” them to the Constitution, Vox argued.

“Active employment policies will be promoted to improve the integration of all groups in society, without discrimination based on sex, race, religion or ideology,” he highlighted in a statement.

The term “woman” was eliminated and replaced by “all people” and the change was possible because the president of the board, Mayor María José Catalá, delegated her vote to Vox, her government partner, which has caused indignation in opposition groups.

The objective of the original motion, the PP spokesperson, José Manuel Caballero, explained at the end of the plenary session, “was to join the commemoration of 8M to continue fighting for women's rights, to continue working for real and effective equality. between men and women in our society, to also facilitate women's access to employment policies, improve ratios and to fight against the wage gap."

However, Caballero has regretted that the Valencian left "has agreed with Vox in the plenary session to reject the consensus that existed on the 8M motion."

Compromís has presented, together with the PSPV, an alternative motion “to protect all advances in equality and, among others, urge the mayor María José Catalá to recover the Valencia Activa programs aimed at eliminating discrimination and inequalities towards women. women in the workplace, as well as revoking the agreement of the board of this foundation, managed by the deputy mayor and spokesman for Vox, Juan Manuel Badenas, who has eliminated the word woman from its statutes," the Valencian formation explained in a release.

The spokesperson for Compromís Papi Robles has described her motion as “transversal and complete, compared to the one presented by the PP that intended to try to whitewash Vox after having given this Wednesday a blow through Valencia Activa to the policies of promoting equality for women in employment and fighting against the wage gap.”

The socialist councilor Nuria Llopis has thanked the councilor Rocío Gil, of the PP, – in charge of negotiating the original motion with them – for her “intention” to sit down “with the opposition and reach agreements on an issue as important as the rights of the women", but he has pointed out that "the reality of his government" is not that.

“Yesterday her government promoted the disappearance of women's rights in the statutes of Valencia Activa.

The PP delegated the vote to Badenas”, she has criticized.

The councilor of the PSPV has highlighted that the opposition motion gave the PP “the opportunity to make up for the error, the erasure of women in Valencia Activa”, the opportunity to “return to the previous wording” and the opportunity to “distance itself from its partners.”

This is how the 4 of VOX celebrate today our commitment to Spain and the Constitution so that a progressive, sectarian and discriminatory motion like that of 8M has not been approved for the first time in the Valencia City Council.

Thank you Francisco, 'Charly', for bringing joy and music to… pic.twitter.com/tdHDR6ReAm

— Juanma Badenas (@JuanmaBadenas) March 7, 2024

The government partners of the PP, the four councilors of Vox, have distanced themselves from this initiative, which before the plenary session they had no longer joined, arguing that their position is “the constitutional framework” that speaks of equality between men and women. women and avoid any type of discrimination, “positive” and “negative” that this may entail.

Its spokesperson, Juan Manuel Badenas, has published a tweet on the social network