The former mayor of Valencia for the PP, Rita Barberá, was this Friday officially and posthumously named Honorary Mayor of the city after this recognition was formalized in the Honors and Distinctions plenary session that the city council of the Valencian capital held and in which They grant these awards on the occasion of October 9, Valencian Community Day.
The title awarded to Barberá was collected by her sisters Carmen and María José Barberá, who attended the session along with nephews and friends of the former first mayor. The mayor of València, María José Catalá, and the Councilor for Culture, José Luis Moreno, were in charge of presenting the distinction.
Among those invited to the plenary session, in addition to members of the local corporation and different institutions, were the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, and the second vice president of the Consell, Susana Camareo.
The appointment of Rita Barberá as Honorary Mayor of València comes to this event after having passed, at the proposal of the municipal executive that presides over Catalá and forms the PP, by the Social Welfare, Education, Culture and Sports Commission of the Valencia City Council and by the full session of the council and having had the support of the 'popular' and Vox, one of the three opposition groups.
The initiative was rejected by the other two groups outside the government, Compromís and PSPV, who considered that it is not the time to pay this tribute due to the open judicial cases that affect the former mayor's environment.
In the extraordinary plenary session of Honors and Distinctions, at the proposal of the political groups that make up the local corporation, different people and entities linked to the city are honored "for their valuable work and unique contributions" to the Valencian capital.
Barberá's distinction as Honorary Mayor aims to recognize that during her 24 years at the head of the City Council she took the city "to levels of international relevance and urban well-being not known before or after her mandate," as stated in the approved minutes. Thus, "the work of an extraordinary woman has been recognized, forever uniting her name to that of Valencia."
Barberá was an autonomous deputy in Les Corts Valencianes from the first legislature until 2015, president of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), senator and mayor of València for 24 years, between 1991 and 2015.
The current executive of Valencia has highlighted that mayor of this city was the "most important" position that Rita Barberá "held in her life" and "her fullest vocation."
"It could have been many more things, but she always said no because Valencia was always the beginning and the end of her political aspirations," said the spokesman for the local government led by Catalá and the PP in the council, Juan Carlos Caballero, in the ordinary plenary session in which last September the appointment of Barberá as Honorary Mayor posthumously was ratified.
