It is often said that it is always more difficult to be a prophet in the land where one was born than outside of it. If that recognition never comes, nothing happens and it is assumed. But it has to be harder than one day to be declared – without expecting it – an illustrious neighbor in the town where they were born (with street name included) and then another day comes, in which that “title” is taken away. . It happened to Josep Borrell, High Representative of Foreign Policy of the EU, in his native Pobla de Segur.
In the decade of the nineties of the last century, a street was dedicated to Josep Borrell in that town of Pallars Jussà and yesterday, in a municipal meeting, that honor disappeared with a feather. That street has ceased to be called, now officially, Josep Borrell and Fontelles to be called Passeig 1 de Octubre, in memory of the day of the referendum for independence.
An unprecedented procedure, at least in that town hall of La Pobla de Segur, a consequence of some unfortunate statements (“Catalonia must be disinfected”) by the man who was once a favorite son of that town and also for his presence at events of the process next to Ciudadanos politicians, like Albert Rivera, or the PP, like Xavier García Albiol, in the most critical days of the political conflict.
And a decision that this Pallars City Council takes in compliance with the result of a referendum, called a year ago, in which an overwhelming majority of those who voted asked for the name change of that street.
This is what the mayor of La Pobla, Marc Baró (ERC), told La Vanguardia yesterday when he reported that the council “does nothing else, with this procedure, than comply with the wishes of its neighbors.” And without fear that the proposal could fail, since Marc Baró’s team (six councilors) has a majority in that local entity.
The forecast was that the two Junts councilors in that council would adhere to the request for this procedure and that the three from the PSC, a party that at the time harshly criticized this neighborhood consultation, would oppose it.
What was done yesterday in this plenary session of La Pobla de Segur “is to officially process the change of name of the street,” reveals the mayor. Something that had not been done throughout this last year (after the overwhelming result of the referendum, which it must be said had very little participation) “because we have had to look and find out how all this is done,” adds Marc Baró.
It is clear, then, that there has been no rush to take that street from Josep Borrell, but it was not necessary to speed up the procedures for the gallery, “since that road does not have any plaque with the name of the politician (it was never placed), nor is it planned to put up plaques with the new name of Passeig 1 de Octubre now,” reveals the first mayor of La Pobla de Segur.
The City Council will now begin the steps to promote the name change of that street on portals such as Google Maps or virtual street maps. Neighbors who still continue to receive their letters with the address “Josep Borrell i Fontelles Street” can ask the City Council for a certificate that endorses the change and thus ask the senders to enter the new name from now on.
The decision taken in yesterday’s plenary session puts an end to a process that began in September 2018. On September 7 of that year, the then municipal corporation approved the call for consultation so that the residents of La Pobla de Segur could decide whether Josep Borrell He had to continue having a street in his name in his native town or not.
The position of the High Representative of Foreign Policy of the EU with the process outraged a good part of the residents of that town of Pallars Jussà, who have not forgiven Borrell for allying himself in this process with the most radical sectors against independence.
Very few now seem to remember the million-dollar investments – an example is in the Congost de Collegats, on the N-260 – achieved for that territory when Josep Borrell was Minister of Development and Transport. But those were other times and that’s another story.