The approval of the Democratic Memory Law last October has allowed the restoration of many elements that were overshadowed during the Franco regime. With it, however, some controversies have arisen, such as that of several towns in Catalonia that have been required to change their names to recover the one they had, according to the Senate, before the dictatorship.
The request has arisen through Senator Carles Mulet, of the Confederal Left Parliamentary Group. With his request, four municipalities were asked to leave behind "the official non-normative toponymy" in order to comply with the Law of Democratic Memory. According to the law of Catalan Linguistic Policy, approved in 1998 and collected by the Institute of Catalan Studies, the towns of Alt Empordà (Girona) Capmany and Lladó should be called Campmany and Lledó; in Pallars Sobirà (Lleida), Rialp should adopt the number of Rialb; and in the Priorat (Tarragona), Cabacés would become Cabassers.
The proposal has raised controversy in some cases, misunderstanding in others and even outrage among some of the mayors affected by the proposed changes.
The mayor of Rialp, Gerard Sabarich, calls this requirement by the Senate "shameful" because he considers that it interferes with the municipal will and autonomy to name itself as its citizens wish, hinting that they will ignore this request "because it is something that does not worry anyone in the town at all”, he assures. Faced with the controversy, Sabarich affirms forcefully that he "is not going to do anything" because "there is no case or issue." "Someone from outside and who has too much free time is making us waste ours on things that don't make any sense," he exclaims, also recalling that he would only propose a name change if there was popular acclaim, "and there isn't. ".
And the first mayor of Rialp does not lack legitimacy, because the decree of the Generalitat de Catalunya 139/2007 of June 26, recognizes in its article 2 that "the name of a municipality can only be changed if it is granted by its council ”.
Joan Fuentes, mayor of Capmany, is perplexed by this matter because his municipality has been changing its name throughout history, although with a greater presence in its current form. In this sense, the president of the Municipal Corporation defends that the name of Capmany was already used long before Franco revolted: "There is documentation from the year 1291 where the Capmany form is collected," confesses Fuentes.
In fact, the mayor recalls that in 1984 his town hall already alleged this issue to the Generalitat de Catalunya, where the indistinct use of the Capmany and Campmany versions was exposed, for which the Department of Governance accepted the current name. So, for the municipal representative, the name of the town is correct and conforms to the linguistic regulations, so they do not believe they are committing any irregularity. "Here we do not defend any Francoist place name, but the name that our town has had for a good part of its long history," adds Fuentes.
Something similar occurs in Cabacés, where the current nickname has been combined with the Catalan version of Cabassers, in both cases with a similar pronunciation. "When this movement headed by the entity cabassers.org arose, we decided to start a participation process to inform the public about the origin of our name and the variations it has undergone over time," explains Jaume Pujals, mayor of the location.
In this sense, the municipal manager acknowledges that the population has mixed feelings regarding the place name, "because, on the one hand, they see that they are using a non-regulatory form, but on the other, it is the name they have always used and there is a sentimental component there." very ingrained." From the beginning of this controversy, the possibility of holding a popular consultation was raised to find out what their neighbors think about how the name of the town should be written.
Nobody in Lladó is willing to change it either. The historical documentation that is kept in this Alt Empordà municipality shows that Lledó and Lladó were versions of the same name that also alternated over time, therefore, for the public, its current name is totally valid. What seems to be less liked is the idea of adding the surname "d'Empordà", as suggested in the version of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans.
At present, ten Catalan municipalities appear in the register of local authorities with an official but non-regulatory toponym. In addition to these four municipalities that have received the Senate's request, Castell-Platja d'Aro, Figaró-Montmany, Forallac, Massanes and Navàs, which according to the entity that ensures the correct use of Catalan toponymy, should be called: Castle and Platja d'Aro, Figaró and Montmany, Vulpellac, Fonteta and Peratallada, Maçanes and Navars.
The mayors required by the letter from the Senate are surprised that the name of their municipalities appears together with others that do have a clear allusion to Francoism, such as Alberche del Caudillo, Llanos del Caudillo, Villafranco del Guadiana or Villafranco del Guadalhorce.
