The former mayor of València and until this Wednesday councilor of Compromís, Joan Ribó, has resigned from his position and has left the chamber in a plenary session in which he has received the applause and affection of the entire parliament and three gifts, two of them from hands of the current mayor, María José Catalá (PP).

On behalf of the corporation, Catalá has delivered the minutes of the extraordinary plenary session of June 13, 2015 and June 15, 2019, in which he assumed the mayor’s office, as well as a lithograph that reproduces a view of Valencia from 1844 and of which only three copies remain.

In his farewell speech, Ribó (Manresa, 1947) recalled that he arrived in Valencia at the age of 17 and that he discovered a “completely understandable Valencian, a dynamic, happy city that looks to the future, and above all a people who are close and organizes in the fights that it believes to be just”.

He has called on his party colleagues to “take care” of the “instrument” that means Compromís and has thanked the residents of the city for having given him “the greatest gift that can be given to a person in love with Valencia”, which was the mayor’s office. .

“We are the only project of strict Valencian obedience, townspeople with class consciousness, people who learn and use Valencian despite being Valencian or Murcian,” he added.

To his coalition partners in the municipal government for eight years, the PSPV, he said: “Seeing how the current Government spends it, I think we can feel proud of the role we played, showing that the left can reach an agreement.” .

“I ask you to have trellat – good sense or common sense – because it cost us a lot to raise the name of Valencia,” and he added that he observes with fear the “retrogressive impulses.” Finally, he thanked the press for “not having forgiven a single one” because that has made him “a better ruler,” and he asked that his successor not be deprived of “this gift.”

The mayor, María José Catalá, on behalf of the two groups that make up the Government team (PP and Vox), has indicated that today “is not the day to do politics” and has thanked Ribó for the “collaboration and loyalty” shown in a transfer of powers that he described as “calm and exemplary.”

“All the mayors are part of the political history of Valencia, I hope that, with this tone, a new stage that I believe is necessary will begin, of respect, esteem and consideration for those who dedicate their lives, their days, to the city,” he added. . “I wish you the best on a personal level, I hope to continue counting on your collaboration on issues of interest to the city. My commitment is to take care of València every day like the olive tree you gave me,” Catalá concluded.

The spokesperson for Compromís, Papi Robles, has fondly bid farewell to her “political father” and has thanked him for teaching that the left “can overcome chronic pessimism and trench postulates.” “You opened the way to a city that today has more light than ever thanks to work, perseverance and trust and you demonstrated that it can be governed in an honest and effective way,” she added.

Likewise, the socialist spokesperson, Sandra Gómez, has considered that it should be a source of pride to be “the mayor of the best city to live in.” “If we can claim a joint legacy it is because there have been people who made it possible with will, dialogue, debate and agreement. Joan is a calm person, who transmits serenity and with whom we learn to put things into perspective, and I think that thanks to him I have matured in politics. Not only your group will miss you,” concluded Gómez, who gave Ribó a photograph in which both appear smiling.