The story of the transformation of Zaragoza that hours earlier had been drawn by the mayor Natalia Chueca has found a frontal response from the PSOE. The socialist spokeswoman, Lola Ranera, has taken advantage of her intervention in the Debate on the state of the City to question the management of the municipal government and maintain that the mayor has stopped defending the interests of the Aragonese capital to align with the policies of the Popular Party at the regional and national level.
Faced with the image of a growing city, Ranera has drawn a Zaragoza marked, in his opinion, by the increase in inequalities, the difficulty in accessing affordable housing, the deterioration of neighborhoods and the decline in public services. «Zaragoza is not for sale, it is defended,» summarized the socialist spokeswoman during a speech in which criticism has weighed much more than the proposals.
The socialist has focused a good part of her speech on questioning Chueca’s political model, considering that she governs «for a few» while leaving behind the majority of Zaragozans. In this sense, he has contrasted the «fashionable Zaragoza» that, in his opinion, the municipal government defends with another city based on affordable housing, equality, the strengthening of neighborhoods and quality public services.
Faced with this model, Ranera has defended a Zaragoza «that is not the business of a few», with a commitment to affordable housing instead of luxury, neighborhoods with greater prominence and a culture with its own identity. He has also called for a city that «takes care of its neighbors», where progress goes hand in hand with equality and the City Council listens more to citizens before making decisions.
PUBLIC SERVICES, HOUSING AND CRITICISM OF THE FAR RIGHT
Ranera has accused the municipal executive of having assumed Vox postulates on issues such as security or equality policies. Specifically, he has criticized the disappearance of the Violet Points, has questioned the project of «Safe Parishes» to attend to victims of sexist violence and has reproached the City Council for the delay in adhering to the VioGén system, ensuring that the protection of women cannot become an object of political confrontation.
The socialist spokeswoman has also focused on the management of social matters by denouncing the closure of seven Youth Zones, the treatment of homelessness as a health problem and the difficulties, as she has stated, to advance in the regularization of migrants. In terms of security, he has defended that Zaragoza is a safe city and has called for strengthening prevention and the presence of the Local Police in the neighborhoods, instead of feeding «a false sense of insecurity».
Ranera has also dedicated part of his speech to listing what he has described as the «list of botched jobs» of the municipal government. Among them he has cited the municipal shelter, the reform of La Romareda, the César Augusto car park or the Bicentennial bridge, ensuring that all of them are examples of a management based on advertisements that, in his opinion, end up translating into cost overruns, delays or execution problems. «Yours are not projects, they are botched jobs,» he summarized.
In the field of housing, Ranera explained that the model promoted by the municipal government favours the construction of luxury housing and the arrival of investment funds, while rents become more expensive and it is increasingly difficult to stay in certain neighbourhoods. As an alternative, he has defended increasing the supply of affordable housing and placing the regeneration of neighborhoods at the center of municipal policies to avoid, he said, that Zaragoza «becomes the business of a few».
RANERA CRITICIZES THAT THE MAYOR IS «FEIJÓO’S SPOKESWOMAN»
One of the moments of greatest political tension has come when Ranera has reproached Chueca that, in his opinion, he has renounced defending the interests of Zaragoza against the Government of Aragon. In this sense, he recalled that a year ago the PSOE called for the convening of a bilateral commission between the two administrations to address issues such as financing or water treatment and has assured that this body has not yet been constituted.
The socialist spokeswoman then raised the tone by stating that «she has stopped serving as mayor of Zaragoza to become Feijóo’s spokesperson in this City Council and Azcón’s delegate in our city». According to her, this attitude makes her «a puppet of her party» and prevents her from acting as a defender of the interests of the people of Zaragoza. Ranera closed her speech by assuring that Chueca «has failed as mayor of Zaragoza» and has placed all her confidence in that «very soon» the city will once again have «a government that does not use the city to do politics, but that does politics to defend its city».
