The substitute judge of the Contentious Administrative Court 10 of Barcelona has estimated the resource of Action and Communication on the Middle Eastan organization that seeks to strengthen relations between Spain and Israel, and annuls the agreement of the Barcelona Municipal Council that ordered the suspension of relations between Barcelona and Israelaccording to the sentence advanced by The National.
The contested action consists of an agreement of the plenary session of the Barcelona Municipal Council of November 24, 2023 and which had as its object a set of declarations and decisions in the context “of the conflict that arose as a consequence of the terrorist attacks carried out in southern Israel at the beginning of October 2023″ by Hamas.
In that plenary session it was stated that there is an illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israelso the need to include clauses in the public procurement regime to guarantee that “no operator belongs to or carries out financial operations, investments, purchases, contracts” or other economic activities with IsraelState with which it was agreed to interrupt institutional relations.
The case came to court after the association Action and communication on the Middle East will file a contentious appeal against the agreement understanding that the council did not have powers to adopt agreements on international matters, which violated the principle of non-discrimination in the modification of the public procurement regime and that the principle of ideological neutrality and the right to ideological freedom contained in article 16 of the Constitution was violated.
The judge considers that it does not comply with the law
In the sentence, the judge considers that The administrative action that is the subject of an appeal must be annulled for not complying with the law. and that they did not constitute mere declarations of intentions, but rather had “legal consequences.”
He argues that the agreement, promoted by Barcelona en Comú with the support of ERC and PSC, “entails the spointing out the parties to the conflict (Israel), which is institutionally identified as the seriously non-compliant party” and adds that a clear negative message is sent from the municipal representative bodyof estrangement and hostility, literally, regarding Israel and its citizens.
They, he continues, seem to be considered “as a guilty party in the conflict, thus assuming the thesis of very popular and belligerent political movements against the State of Israel and the international conflict of those territories” and emphasizes that clauses were introduced that exclude from the public contracting process all businessmen and contractors who do not accept this ideological system driven by the commons.
The agreement represents “a clear violation of the fundamental rights to equality without discrimination for ideological reasons and to freely transmit ideas and opinions” alleges the judge, who recalls that public powers must be governed by ideological neutrality and objectivity.
Collboni lifted the suspension
However, in this case, Barcelona City Council follows the ruling, adopted a public position that does not seem compatible with the principle of ideological neutrality which is assumed from the council, according to article 103 of the Spanish Constitution and article 6 of Law 7/1985, and also argues that The aforementioned declarations exceed the municipal interest and powers that correspond to this local entity.
The ruling, against which an appeal can be filed within a period of 15 days, also recalls that, after the municipal elections of September 1, 2023, the new mayor, Jaume Collboni, agreed to lift “the controversial suspension ordered by the previous mayor”, Ada Colau, and reestablish institutional relations with Tel-Aviv and Gaza.
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