What if the Pyrénées-Orientales became the eighth French department to change its name? The departmental council of the southernmost departments of France (capital: Perpignan) has just announced the creation of a territorial tourism brand called Pyrénées-Méditionranée. A clear name providing a readable synthesis of its topography, from the sea to the mountains, for those unfamiliar with Perpignan and its region.
“
Pyrénées-Orientales is not easy to identify at first glance for anyone who does not live in the Occitanie region. At least with the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean, we know exactly where to locate the territory. The Mediterranean, for those who pass by it every day, is an obvious fact that brings us together. However, because it is not designated by name, it escapes many potential visitors. This evokes an imagination and landscapes that we can easily imagine. We want to create a destination, particularly oriented towards nature and sustainable tourism
,” explains Aude Vivès, vice-president of the department and president of the Departmental Tourism Agency 66.
Pyrenees-Mediterranean or Catalan Country?
For the moment, it is only a brand but in the short term, the department could change its name, as proposed by the president of the community Hermeline Malherbe (PS). A local referendum, enriched with several proposals including that of a status quo - must be held on this subject in the fall. Therefore, the launch, with a lot of communication, of a tourist brand a few months before such a consultation could appear as a desire to already inscribe "Pyrénées-Mediterranean" in the collective imagination to promote its adoption...
“
We are not confusing the brand with a possible change of name because we could very well keep the Pyrénées-Orientales appellation
,” assures Aude Vivès. We are asked to believe her!
A change of name, for a community, involves costs that we must measure. It is also a question of proposing for consultation names which are not likely to be rejected by the Council of State. Academics are working on these questions
,” advocates the elected official, who is also a lawyer by profession.
The legal argument targets in particular, without really naming it, an online vote carried out by Radio France Bleu Roussillon in January 2024. Among several proposals, the name “Catalan Country” had collected 56% of the votes. Without being a great jurist, we can imagine the reservations that the Council of State would have in accepting that a department could bear the name of "country" attached to a Catalan reference even though a significant part of the population of Spanish Catalonia regularly claims its independence! Conversely, a change of name to “Pyrénées-Méditionranée” (6% of the votes recorded by France Bleu Roussillon) would make it possible to preserve the number “66” of the department, while offering a weighty argument to its defenders: mimicry with the department of Basses-Pyrénées which became, in 1969... Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
“
It is also a question of proposing for consultation names which are not likely to be rejected by the Council of State. »
Aude Vivès, vice-president of the Department responsible for attractiveness, tourism and leisure.
In the meantime, this eventuality, the community will have to impose this tourist brand to attract a clientele which is currently 87% French, which it wishes to internationalize more. Furthermore, if the idea rings true geographically, it comes up against the creation of other territorial brands within the department. The urban community of Perpignan has just launched “Cap Sud 66” to boost its attractiveness, just like the town of Canet-en-Roussillon which will in turn unveil a tourist brand within a week. Magnanimous, the hotelier Laurent Gauze, also president of the department's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, believes that “
it is the appropriation by the public which will produce the result.
» By having too many brands, the territory risks no longer... standing out.