The Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León (TSJCyL) has annulled the position of director of Public Policy Coordination created by the Valladolid City Council. The magistrates have pointed out that the position is not “in accordance with the law” as it requires a modification of the Organic Regulations to create a newly created area.
The ruling has upheld an appeal filed by the Municipal Socialist Group after being initially rejected by the Contentious-Administrative Court. The ruling may be appealed within a period of 15 days.
The position of director of Public Policy Coordination, created by the municipal corporation of PP and Vox upon arriving at the government team, fell to Indalecio Escudero. The mayor himself indicated that “the profile sought is that of a career civil servant, who meets the legal requirements, and who, in addition, is a trusted person of the Government team” and for this he opened a public competition. With this description, as already advanced by the then councilor and now Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and other socialist councilors, he opted for Escudero, an official of the Higher Body of the Administration of Castilla y León and a trusted man of Carnero, having been head of cabinet during his time as president of the Valladolid Provincial Council between 2011 and 2019.
In addition, he was also general director with the councilor when he was Minister of Agriculture and at the time of his appointment he was vice-counsellor of Public Administrations and Citizen Services, a position in the Ministry of the Presidency that the councilor held within the Board. At that time, the PSOE of Valladolid classified the position as “mayor b” for performing functions that the mayor of Valladolid and senator, Jesús Julio Carnero, “cannot or does not want to do to govern Valladolid.”
Between October 2023, when he was appointed, and March 2024, as published by this media, “he has only signed three completely anodyne and testimonial documents, which imply that he has no responsibility and no weight in terms of responsibility within the municipal management.” . as explained by the spokesperson for the Municipal Socialist Group, Pedro Herrero.
For Herrero, this fact reflected that “he performs other types of political functions,” as a “kind of political commissioner.” The mayor affirms that, according to the mayor, this coordinator, who acts as an official, performs functions similar to those of an area director but with a councilor’s salary. Specifically, he earns 85,534 euros per year (not counting seniority), to which we must also add the salary of the Secretariat position that is associated with it. In total, there are 156,762 euros per year. The Valladolid City Council sets the gross remuneration of the deputy mayors and general delegate councilors at 85,534.54 euros.
In the ruling, to which elDiario.es has had access, the TSJCyL has annulled the agreement of the Governing Board of August 2023 that includes the appointment of Escudero as “it was not in accordance with the legal system.”
The magistrates understand that due to the assigned functions and the new creation of the position, a “modification” of the internal structure of the City Council is “necessary, something that was not done in the first place.
The judges understand that it is not “just another area, but rather a body that culminates the administrative organization” hence the need for change in a new organizational unit of the Mayor’s Office that makes “the modification of the List of Jobs necessary.”
According to Carnero at the time of announcing the creation of the position of the director of public policy coordination, his responsibilities are the internal coordination of public and management policies, matters related to the Agency for Innovation and Economic Development or the promotion and development of the Underground Table, of the Automotive Table and of the Agri-Food Table, as well as that of the Projects and Investment Attraction Office. Functions that various council departments were responsible for in the previous legislature.
With all these responsibilities, the TSJCyL has indicated that, although the mayor does have the powers to create areas of action – as stated in the Organic Regulations of the City Council -, “it is not a new area, it has more powers and its leadership is more responsibilities.” Therefore, “the creation of the job is not in accordance with the law.”
With this, the Superior Court of Justice has already ruled twice against the PP and Vox government team in the Valladolid City Council in recent weeks. On November 28, the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Superior Court of the TSJCyL annulled the Municipal Ordinance for the regulation of restricted use lanes, considering that “it does not comply with current regulations.”
The PSOE assures that Carnero created the figure of “mayor B” illegally
The PSOE spokesperson in the City Council, Pedro Herrero, has pointed out that the sentence agrees with “a cacicada” from Carnero, who “has committed an illegality.”
“The TSJCyL agrees with us. In the Municipal Socialist Group we were convinced that she was a boss of the mayor. Carnero then decided, despite our warnings, to leave a person he trusted, from the PP, to carry out the mayor’s tasks because he chose to be in the Senate. The sentence is resounding: what Carnero did is illegal, now he will know what he is doing,” stated the socialist.
In a statement, the PSOE in the Valladolid City Council assures that the TSJCyL ruling is “resounding” in different paragraphs. The socialists have highlighted that the magistrates have recognized that the PSOE has already indicated the need to modify the Regulations to create the new position.
The mayor assures that he will keep Escudero in office
After hearing the sentence, the mayor has indicated that he will keep his director of Public Policy Coordination in office by not making a final sentence and admits. Carnero has clarified that they have to study the possibilities of the resource and will make “the corresponding decisions at the level that is necessary and in accordance with the law.”
The councilor has reiterated the need for the position of Escudero due to “this assistance being necessary within the Mayor’s Office as an area.” “We will see how and how to continue maintaining this assistance within the Mayor’s Office,”
With this, the Superior Court of Justice has already ruled twice against the PP and Vox government team in the Valladolid City Council in recent weeks. On November 28, the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Superior Court of the TSJCyL annulled the Municipal Ordinance for the regulation of restricted use lanes, considering that “it does not comply with current regulations.”
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