He February 20, 2022 It promised to be a historic day in Extremadura. In Spain, in general. After months of debate, arguments and growing media interest, that Sunday the residents of Don Benito and Villanueva (Badajoz) cast the ballot to decide something crucial for the future of both municipalities: whether they would merge into one. The ‘yes’ vote won, although with such a narrow margin and, above all, such a low level of participation that the union did not come together.
Four years later, just jump into the air.
February 20, 2022. To understand what just happened in Extremadura you have to go back at least four years, to February 20, 2022when the residents of Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena held a referendum to decide whether to unite into a single town.
Both town halls are located in Badajoz, they are separated by a few kilometers almost completely urbanized and share services like a hospital complex. Furthermore, in 2022 both were governed by PSOE mayors and they were in favor of their respective consistories embracing each other as one.
A muted ‘yes’. The referendum backed the merger, which for a time seemed to clear the future of ‘Vegas-Altas’, the name under which he wanted to be baptized the new village. The problem is that that support was not strong enough to close the debate. To begin with, participation in the 2022 vote was modest for a decision of such significance: in Villanueva (25,873 neighbors) 58.94% of the census participated; in Don Benito (37,310) 50.42%.
In the first location, 90.49% of the votes supported the alliance; but in Don Benito only 66.27% did so. It may seem like a high percentage, but the town councils had agreed that to move forward the support had to be at least 66%. That is to say, in Don Benito the procedure was passed by a few votes.
As if that were not enough, there is another fundamental factor: the referendum was actually a popular consultation with advisory naturenon-binding. The merger was never ratified in a plenary session nor did the Board approve any constitutive decree. Only a protocol was signed in 2023 that remained a dead letter.
Buried and buried well. That was almost five years ago. If the failed merger between Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena is news again Now it is because, after more than four years without real progress, the first town (the most populated) has decided to definitively bury the union. Although the project has been stalled for some time, the Dombeniense Government, now led by the PP and Always Don Benitohas definitively shelved the idea. On Monday the municipal plenary session unanimously approved a motion declaring its definitive stoppage.
What’s more, for “reasons of transparency, legal certainty and political clarity”, the Don Benito City Council has decided Formally communicate your decision to all the parties involved: the Ministry, the Government of Extremadura, the Provincial Council of Badajoz and of course the Villanueva City Council. Their approach is simple: they want to continue “collaborating” with their neighbor, but without ‘going through the altar’, limiting their agreements to the Comprehensive Services Association that already exists.
“It’s not the time”. Don Benito’s decision is not important just because of what he says. Equally or even more relevant is who says it. The motion has passed with the unanimity of the plenarywhich means that all groups are in favor of putting it in the box. Including the PSOE, the party that promoted it in 2022.
Each party (PP, Siempre Don Benito and PSOE) puts forward its own arguments and places emphasis on one issue or another, but the reading seems clear: the merger has it very complicated even if there is a change of government in 2027. “This is not the time to talk about the merger now,” assume in the PSOE, which advocates “recovering the economy and exciting the neighbors again.”
Crossover of arguments. The case of Don Benito and Villanueva de la Serena is interesting beyond the province of Badajoz or Extremadura because it shows how difficult it is (on a political and social level) to unite two town councils. And in this case the neighbors had a good handful of arguments in favor.
Beyond the economic and service cohesion that already exists, in 2021 the University of Extremadura published a report which concluded that the new urban area would be the second economic center of Badajoz and the first at the regional level in agriculture and livestock. According to their calculations, ‘marriage’ would increase household income by 2.75% and employment by 5%. Together they would add up today to a population of around 64,000 registeredmore than Merida.
Opponents of the merger they put the accent at another point. They argue that the project is nothing more than “the result of a political decision driven in haste, without the necessary social consensus and without rigorous technical planning.” In fact, they regret that in February 2022, “the legal complexity” of the link was not clearly explained to the neighbors, nor were its “risks” and “real costs.”
Broadening the focus. Except for a very strange surprise, everything indicates that the dream of Vegas Altas It will remain just that: a dream. In Spain, however, there are other examples of local mergers that have gone ahead. Two of the most recent are those of Oza dos Ríos-Cesuras and Cerdedo-Cotobadeboth in Galicia.
The first It was forged in 2013setting a milestone that has not been experienced since 1981, and the second in 2016. Although in Galicia the processes advanced more agilely than in Extremadura, they have not been free of challenges. In 2022 The Country still warned of the challenges that Oza Cesuras had ahead of him a decade after his marriage, with unfulfilled investments and timid changes. In Galicia there has continued to be talk about some other unionalthough without landing them.
Why does it cost so much? The million dollar question. In Spain there are almost 1,400 municipalities with less than 100 inhabitants and another 2,600 that do not exceed 500. Despite this and the fact that in 2013, during the times of Cristóbal Montoro, the Government came to announce incentives For the town councils that decided to merge, the truth is that the idea has not quite caught on. What’s more, in 2018 the local map not only had not been simplified, but included seven more locations.
A quick Google search arrives to find news of the creation of eight new municipalities in Andalusia in 2018 or the conversion of a Basque neighborhood into a minor local entity less than two years ago. If we go back to the late 1970s the list of segregated localities is much older.
The reasons? From economic and political to strictly emotional, a feeling of belonging and identity. “Inland Spain sees in the municipality not only an administration that manages services, but also an administration that represents and defends the interests of the people,” explains to RTVE Víctor Bethencourt, expert in Administrative Law at the University of Valencia.
Images | Villanueva de la Serena Town Hall 1, 2 and Wikipedia
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