Alicante, (EFE).- The popular Toni Pérez has been elected this Friday as the new president of the Provincial Council of Alicante, the sixth consecutive of the same party since 1995, in a plenary session in which he has promised that the institution will have an “outstretched hand” with the other administrations, that it will have “new projects” for the next four years and that it will defend water and tourism.
He promises to be “demanding where necessary”
The election of Pérez, who has promised to be “demanding wherever necessary”, has taken place in a plenary session of constitution of the institution that has had 450 guests, including the president of the Generalitat and predecessor of Pérez, Carlos Mazón, the ministers José Antonio Rovira and Nuria Montes and the mayor of Alicante, Luis Barcala.
Pérez, who has been sworn in in Valencian, has received the support of his party colleagues, a total of sixteen votes (the absolute majority), thirteen from the socialist Vicente Arqués, one from Ximo Perles, from Compromís, and another from Gema Alemán, from Vox.
Sixth PP politician who presides over this Provincial Council
55-year-old Pérez is the sixth PP politician to preside over the Provincial Council consecutively after Julio de España (1995-2003), José Joaquín Ripoll (2003-2011), Luisa Pastor (2011-2015), César Sánchez (2015-2019) and Carlos Mazón (2019-2023), after the socialists Antonio Fernández Valenzuela (1983-2023) held the same position. 91) and Antonio Mira-Perceval (1991-95) and also the popular and later mayor of Alicante Luis Díaz Alperi (1979-83).
Toni Pérez (Benidorm, 1968), graduated in Labor Relations from the University of Alicante, has been a councilor elected by the PP in Benidorm since 1995, was a spokesman for the opposition between 2009 and 2015 and mayor for eight years, an activity that he has combined since June 2021 with the Presidency of the PP in the province of Alicante.
The new president of the Diputación has affirmed that he is confident that the institution “will not walk alone”, but that it will do so hand in hand with the Generalitat, and has promised to “improve efficiency and advance in prosperity”.
Thus, he said that the province will overcome the “humiliation” that it has experienced in recent years by higher administrations, which has made this period “one of the most difficult in our history.”
He has highlighted that, in view of this, the response of the Alicante Provincial Council has been to make “good policies” and “to be close to the people of Alicante and their town halls, defending Alicante against cuts in water and the tourist tax”.
“I am clear that my objective is to sustain and support the articulation of this land, and to advance all the municipalities of the province”, Pérez has had an impact, who has stressed that the provincial institution must “turn to the municipalities without sufficient autonomy”.
“Serious problem of underfinancing”
He has also referred to the “serious problem of underfinancing” that Alicante is experiencing: “We have the lively hope of ceasing to be the province number 52 out of 52 in infrastructures”, Pérez has exposed, who wants Alicante to be a “driving element, as it has been and is in many sectors”.
“We have a first-rate ally”, said the new president, referring to the new president of the Generalitat Carlos Mazón and stated that he will continue “the line of good policy that he has exercised, effective in management, and with special orientation towards the 51 municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants”, before concluding that the defense of the Tajo-Segura transfer will be “the epicenter” of the Diputación.
In addition to Pérez, the PP will be accompanied by Bernabé Cano, from La Nucía; Arturo Poquet, from Benissa; Cristina García, from Alicante; David Aracil, from Sant Joan d’Alicante; José Antonio Bermejo, from Mutxamel; Lourdes Llopis, from El Campello; Magdalena Martínez, from Biar; Carmen Sellés, d of Hondón de las Nieves; Ana Serna, from Albatera; Juan de Dios Navarro, from Elche; Loreto Serrano, from Santa Pola; Antonio Bernabéu, from Cox; Francisco Cano, from Formentera del Segura; Marina Sáez, from Pilar de la Horadada, and Carlos Pastor, from Alcoi.
For the socialist group, Arqués will be accompanied by José Ramiro, from Ondara; Isabel López, from Xixona; Raquel Marín, from El Campello; Raúl Ruiz, from Alicante; José Antonio Amat, from Elda; Verónica Giménez, from Monòver; Francis Rubio, from Elche; Joaquín Hernández, from Dolores; Yolanda Seva, from Santa Pola; Manuel Ros, from Algorfa; Pilar Díaz, from Jacarilla, and Ismael Vidal, from Fageca.
For her part, Gema Alemán, from Sant Joan d’Alacant, will be the deputy for Vox, while Ximo Perles will be the deputy for Compromís. EFE
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