The Government delegate, Francisco Lucas, has presided over the act of appointment of the assembly hall Francisco Jiménez in honor of the former government delegate and Secretary General of the Government Delegation, who died last July.
"On April 2, 2019, in his inauguration speech as a government delegate, Paco Jiménez said, citing Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, that when someone assumes public office, he should consider himself as public property. That phrase resonates today with all its emotional charge.
Well, beyond a statement of intent on the honourable concept of politics and public service that Paco had, it illustrates the beautiful and painful contradiction that brings us together here today. On the one hand, the sadness that still hangs over us because of his absence.
On the other, the joy of wanting and being able to keep his memory alive. And that is that, Paco was not only public property in the institutional. It was, fundamentally, Human Heritage in the personal," Lucas began his speech.
The government delegate has indicated that all attendees are likely to be separated by differences of various kinds. And yet, "we are united by a common feeling of affection, consideration, respect and friendship towards Paco Jiménez".
"From that piece of methacrylate hangs the deserved and due recognition to a fervent and committed defender of public service, in which he developed an extraordinary professional and political career that has left a deep imprint among all of us. I don't know if it's cause or consequence. But the truth is that the category of its institutional figure would not be understood without that human dimension that defined, characterized and magnified it above any other consideration. A human dimension fueled by the undisguised devotion to his wife, and the infinite pride in the vital, academic and professional development of his daughters Carmen and Pilar, and of his son, Javier," he added.
Lucas has also highlighted the influence that his parents had on Jiménez, "Simple people who instilled values such as effort and honesty in my work”, according to the words of Jiménez himself.
"We won't forget you because I put that badge on. He puts it on that plate, because we don’t forget you,” Lucas concluded.
