Josep Borrell, the illustrious EU high representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and a vice-president of the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen, could well be thinking, with that touch of arrogance which is so characteristic of him, that no man is prophet in his own land. What we do know is that the distinction of being a favourite son of his hometown, La Pobla de Segur, through the designation of the Passeig Josep Borrell i Fontelles, which sought to recognize his contribution to the municipality and was granted to him by the town council when it was led by a Catalan Socialist mayor, is now to be amended by the renaming of the promenade as Passeig 1 d'Octubre, making reference to the 2017 independence referendum. Sunday's vote, called by the municipal council among all residents over the age of 16, was decisive: 78% were in favour of the name change.
The action that was started in this town, with around 3,000 people and the second largest municipality in the Pallars Jussà county, has put a final full stop on a popular initiative that began in La Pobla immediately after Borrell expressed a preference at a rally in Sabadell, in the Catalan electoral campaign of December 2017 - the elections called by Mariano Rajoy after the Puigdemont government was dissolved following the application of Article 155 of the Constitution - to "disinfect Catalonia" before "stitching up its wounds". His line generated rivers of ink and, for the most part, still follows him wherever he goes.
His political positions spearheading opposition to the Catalan independence movement during the last decade, which have caused him more than one difficulty in Catalonia, have, on the other hand, served him at different points in his life, to project his political career. Under Spanish PM Felipe González, serving as minister of public works, he was already involved in several incidents related to Catalan infrastructure. He then won the primaries against Joaquín Almunia to be a candidate for Spanish prime minister himself - with the PSC very largely against him, as it happened - but an issue of tax fraud related to two former collaborators from his time in the Spanish treasury ended up removing him from the race for the Moncloa government palace.
A stroke of luck when he had apparently retired and living between Madrid, Barcelona and La Pobla, where he had acquired a house, a property of 515 square metres with garden and swimming pool, brought him back to the front line when José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero offered him the role as head of the PSOE candidacy in the elections to the European Parliament, just after the Socialists had won the 2003 elections and thus had their leading figures placed in the Spanish government, so that no one was competing for that nomination. Borrell accepted it and catapulted himself into European politics, where he has been for recent years.
Although the public consultation was held only two months before the municipal elections, it arises from agreements made by the municipal plenary in 2018 and ratified in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic postponed the municipal consultation and now it has returned, amidst pre-electoral skirmishing, even though the turnout left much to be desired by both sides, since it only motivated a little over 300 voters to go to the town hall to vote on this question: Regarding the proposal to change the current Passeig Josep Borrell, my choice is: A) keep the name of Josep Borrell i Fontelles. B) change the name of the street to the Passeig 1 d'Octubre.