The General Directorate of Linguistic Policy, Beatriu Defior has reiterated her demands that Mahón and Maó-Mahón be dropped as the name for the Menorcan city which she insists must only be called by its Catalan name, Maó.
“Maó is the only Municipality in the Balearic Islands that does not comply with the legal obligation that the only official form is Catalan,” said Defior, who’s written to Mayor Hector Pons demanding that “the relevant procedure be carried out as soon as possible to change the name of the Municipality and comply with current regulations.”
Defior points out that the City of Maó changed its name in 2012, during the term of Águeda Reynés, who introduced the bilingual name Maó-Mahón, based on a law that was repealed in 2016.
“It has been four years since the regulatory framework established this legal provision, which is the same one that governed between 1986 and 2012,” she wrote in the letter.
Consistory sources confirm that the issue is being processed, but say there is no deadline for changing the name and the signage. The dossier of adaptation to the linguistic regulations has been open since 2016 and neither Conxa Juanola nor Héctor Pons has resolved it.
The two governing parties, PSOE and Ara Maó made a promise before the elections to return the name to the Catalan form.
“In addition to identifying the city, the place names have a symbolic value that cannot be neglected,” said Beatriu Defior. “The place name Maó-Mahón has no tradition and does not respond to the culture of the Balearic Islands."