Alicante (EFE).- Luis Barcala, mayor of Alicante for the PP since April 19, 2018, will live his first full legislature governing alone from this Saturday, after forming a government with Ciudadanos between 2019 and 2023 and governing in a minority with eight councilors between 2018 and 2019.
At 61 years old, Barcala will continue with the command rod of the city council of the tenth city of Spain and will promote new long-term commitments that he wants to enforce with his fourteen councilors.
Who is Luis Barcala?
He was born in Alicante on March 19, 1962.
Graduated in Law, he has a Master’s Degree in Foreign Trade, another in Business Labor Consulting and a third in Alta
Specialization in Banking Law, as well as a diploma from the School of Legal Practice of Alicante.
He is the father of two daughters and a member of the Els Chuanos shack.
What have you done so far as mayor?
He has 18 years of political experience, especially at the local level:
First stage as councilor of the Alicante City Council: after entering as number 19 on the PP list for the 2011 municipal elections, he took over from José Joaquín Ripoll in 2011 after resigning. From December 2013 to June 2015, he held the Department of Health, Consumption and the Environment, a position that in 2015 he complemented with being Deputy Mayor.
From the opposition to the Mayor’s Office in the convulsed legislature of 2015-19: he repeated on the municipal lists in 2015, fourth on the list, but the resignations of Asunción Sánchez Zaplana who left the act for that of senator, María Ángeles Goitia (who gave up the option of candidacy) and José Císcar, who also left to be a regional deputy, allowed him to leave as mayor in 2018, after a tripartite government of the left and the resignation of Echávarri (PSOE).
Mayor in a PP-Cs government: the popular Luis Barcala consolidated his position as Mayor during this last legislature with a government of PP (9 councilors) and Cs (5), who despite not having an absolute majority, had a majority over the left and with Vox on the right (2).
Great challenges as mayor and future projects for Barcala
Barcala has said that this new legislature will be focused on:
Continue with the physical transformation of the city, for a friendlier Alicante and compatible with the different forms of mobility through the widening of sidewalks or the improvement of trees, also promoting the alternative of public transport and individual electric transport.
Continue with the structural transformation of the productive fabric, through which it is intended to implement the digital industry in sectors such as tourism, gastronomy or logistics.
Continue with the policy of lowering taxes, a “soft” tax system, to attract companies and for citizens to contribute “only what they have to contribute”.
Measures to “close” a social gap that leads to inequality in the neighborhoods.
Execute the Congress Center, “essential for the city of Alicante”, which is in the project competition phase and which, it is hoped, should be defined by the end of the year, when the tender for its execution could begin.
La Casa de la Música: a complex dedicated only to music, and for the four music and dance conservatories.
Pau 5 and Rabasa sports complex, in addition to a complete remodeling plan for sports facilities.
A new Department of Social Action “closer to the problems of the most vulnerable people”, according to Barcala.