The Madrid City Council aims to continue ensuring citizen coexistence through a new coexistence ordinance. The deputy mayor, Inma Sanz, announced that this new regulatory framework will be submitted to public consultation via the Decide Madrid website. The intention is to strengthen measures against incivility affecting communal life in the city.
In 2022, the cleaning ordinance already tightened fines for actions such as graffiti painting, drinking in public, or leaving trash outside containers, increasing the penalty to 2,000 euros. A consultation period of 30 days will be established from its publication in the Official Bulletin of the Madrid City Council for citizens to express their opinions on the matter.
The consultation will include questions about whether existing municipal regulations are sufficient to guarantee coexistence, whether it is positive to establish a series of behaviors for the use of public spaces, and which aspects should be regulated or modified to improve coexistence in the city.
Additionally, the fight against incivil graffiti will be intensified with the creation of the Urban Heritage Protection Section of the Municipal Police in 2023, and it was reported that numerous files and complaints about this matter had been processed until November 2024.
The deputy mayor emphasized the importance of more effectively sanctioning behaviors that negatively impact citizens and did not rule out the possibility of including new forms of sanction in the ordinance, beyond economic ones, such as activities to repair potential damage caused by incivility.
Among the aspects that are intended to be regulated more strictly are urban degradation, vandalism, alcohol consumption in public spaces, coercive begging, graffiti, camping, and bonfires. The fine for drinking alcohol in parks and public streets increased by 13.63% last year, while a maximum fine of 6,000 euros was established for graffiti, according to regional regulations. Meanwhile, drinking in public moved from being a minor infraction to a serious one, increasing the fine to 2,000 euros.
