The Administrative Litigation Court number 2 of Girona has ordered the Verges City Council to place the official flags of Spain and Catalonia on the exterior of the municipal building. The sentence, which is not yet final, also requires the removal of the anti-fascist flag with the estelada that was displayed on the City Council's balcony.
Obligation to display official flags in the town hall
According to the judicial resolution, the Spanish flag must always occupy a prominent, visible, and honorable place on the facade of the Verges City Hall. The ruling upholds the appeal filed by the association Impulso Ciudadano and declares the display of the anti-fascist flag with the estelada on the municipal balcony contrary to law.
The court considers that the estelada is a symbol of partisan or ideological significance and that its presence in institutional spaces breaks the duty of neutrality of the public administration. The sentence orders the City Council to remove the esteladas placed on the lampposts on the sidewalks at the intersection of the C-31 with the C-252 and the GI-634.
Rejection of the Verges City Council's Arguments
The court dismisses the town hall's claim that the Spanish flag had not been removed because it had never been hung. The order recalls that this circumstance does not prevent compliance with current legislation.
In relation to the antifascist flag, the ruling reiterates that it does not fulfill the duty of institutional neutrality. It is not official, it incorporates symbology associated with a political option, and it is located on the balcony of the City Hall facade, disregarding that the public institution is subject to the principles of objectivity.
Context of the placement of symbols and judicial response
The esteladas were installed by the Assemblea Vergelitana per la Independència after receiving authorization by a mayor's decree in 2012. The court rejects the City Council's arguments that invoked fundamental rights to keep the flags. According to the ruling, the object of the litigation is not the freedom of an individual to display symbols in their private sphere, but the continued occupation of public goods for common use and institutional identification with symbols of ideological and political significance.
The ruling also does not endorse as an argument that the CUP has governed since 2015 nor that the majority of residents have endorsed an independence, left-wing, and anti-fascist message and program.
"The appeal to the political and social context of the municipality and to the ideological orientation of the ruling forces cannot serve to justify the use of public goods and spaces or the institutional headquarters for the purpose of partisan identification" - Administrative Litigation Court number 2 of Girona
Appealable ruling before the TSJC
The sentence comes after the adoption of precautionary measures that already forced the removal of the banner with the slogan 'Acció antifeixista Països Catalans' from the City Hall balcony. The ruling is not final and can be appealed before the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.
The Verges City Council must now decide whether to comply with the ruling or file an appeal before the TSJC. The court insists that institutional identification with partisan symbols violates the principle of neutrality required of public administrations.