ERC of Badalona (Barcelonès Nord) has denounced through a press release “the contempt of the Popular Party government in the memory of Mayor Frederic Xifré”. They remember that the previous government left the monument to the republican councilor murdered by the Franco regime finished and denounce that the new government team has stopped the final procedures alleging that the monument is “too expensive.”
From Esquerra they assure that the Popular Party government “is considering reversing the installation of the monument in memory of Mayor Frederic Xifré, shot by Franco in 1940 for his status as a republican mayor.” This is how the Museum transferred it to the Frederic Xifré Cultural Association, which works to restore the memory of the mayor of Badalona. The new government team alleges that the cost of the monument is too high and does not want to complete the final procedures to install the monument in the square that bears his name, next to Plaza Pompeu Fabra.
The government chaired by Xavier García Albiol rejects the accusations and declares itself “firmly committed to paying tribute to Mayor Xifré” as demonstrated, they recall, by the fact that his municipal group voted in favor in the plenary session “when we were in the opposition.” The new executive is convinced of carrying out the tribute, but they recognize that they have conveyed to the municipal groups “the will to reconsider the issue, because the cost of 100,000 euros may be excessive.”
The Badalona Plenary Session approved a new investment budget in 2022 – with the favorable votes of the Popular Party – that included an allocation of 100,000 euros to design, build and install the monument. Finally, the total cost is 86,000 euros, 14% less than budgeted. From the Department of Culture, Esquerra Republicana worked to make the monument a reality by building a consensus between the Badalona Museum, the Alcalde Xifré Cultural Association and the family of the murdered Mayor.
On April 1, 2023, the Badalona Museum hosted the presentation of the monument project that would be carried out by the sculptor Perecoll. The outgoing government left the work finished with the corresponding favorable reports from the technicians and the municipal intervention. The new government had to formalize the commission and install the monument. Some procedures that could not be carried out before the elections due to the delay in the settlement of the accounts of the Badalona City Council, a necessary step to be able to finance the investment item destined for the monument.
Esquerra Republicana considers that an ideological bias is hidden behind this decision by the municipal government. Alex Montornès, president of the Municipal Group of Esquerra Republicana, has stated that “Mayor Xifré was a democratically chosen mayor of Badalona who was shot by the Franco regime for what he represented. Badalona has a debt for more than 80 years with the restitution of his memory. Alleging that the monument is too expensive is an excuse that hides the reactionary ideology of the Popular Party” and recalled that for the Popular Party, dedicating 86,000 euros to historical memory is too much while they propose spending two million on the Christmas campaign to compete with Vigo. “Frederic Xifré defended the lives of many Badaloneses above their ideas. “This is badalonism,” declared the Republican.
