Adolfo John Canepa, CMG, OBE, GMH (born 17 December 1940) is a

Gibraltarian The Gibraltarians (Spanish: ''gibraltareños'', colloquially: '' llanitos'') are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterran ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He has dedicated most of his life to

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and the development of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, having served both as

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

and as

Chief Minister of Gibraltar The chief minister of Gibraltar is the head of His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar who is elected by the Gibraltar Parliament, and formally appointed by the governor of Gibraltar, representative of the British monarch. The incumbent chief ...

from 8 December 1987 to 25 March 1988. During this period he was also the leader of the

Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights The Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights (AACR) was a political party in Gibraltar. History The AACR was established in 1942 by Joshua Hassan and Albert Risso, and sought to protect the interests of families evacuated during World Wa ...

(AACR). He is a former Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament.

Teaching career

Adolfo Canepa was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

during a period of World War II when most of Gibraltar's civilian population had been evacuated. Prior to his involvement in local politics, Canepa was already well known as part of a team of

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

s at the

Gibraltar Grammar School ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibra ...

who helped the Christian Brothers to mould an entire generation of Gibraltarians. He later left teaching, at considerable sacrifice for his wife Julie and young family at the time, to pursue a career in politics.Gibraltar Chronicle - Netto, Canepa, Gaggero, and Xiberras Awarded Gib Medallion of Honour

Political career

Canepa was a leading member of the

. He was a candidate for election for the first time in the 1972 elections, winning a seat (the AACR won the majority by obtaining eight out of fifteen seats, with

Joshua Hassan Sir Joshua Abraham Hassan (21 August 1915 – 1 July 1997), nicknamed "''Salvador''" (''Saviour''), was a Gibraltarian politician, and first mayor and Chief Minister of Gibraltar, serving four terms as chief minister for a total of over 20 year ...

as Chief Minister) and thus becoming Minister for Labour and Social Security. During his time in this ministry, he led a wide-ranging review of the

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

system. He later served in government as Minister for Economic Development and Trade, a ministry he held until he succeeded Hassan as Chief Minister. During Hassan's last term in government Canepa also served as Deputy Chief Minister. He was perhaps Hassan's closest political colleague and became his right-hand man at meetings in

with

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

over the Dockyard Agreement and also accompanied him as his Deputy to meetings leading up to the Brussels Agreement in the early eighties.

Mayor of Gibraltar

Canepa succeeded

Alfred Vasquez Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

Mayor of Gibraltar The Mayor of Gibraltar is the ceremonial official of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The mayor is appointed by the elected Members of ParliamentHorace Zammit.Mayor's Board
/ref>

Chief Minister of Gibraltar

Hassan resigned without completing his term as Chief Minister in 1987 after an

agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting o ...

on the shared use of

Gibraltar Airport Gibraltar International Airport or North Front Airport is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territories, British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway is owned by the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of ...

was signed by Spain and the United Kingdom, citing personal reasons. Being Deputy at the time, Canepa succeeded him as Chief Minister and leader of the AACR. However, Canepa lost the 1988 elections to

Joe Bossano Sir Joseph John Bossano (born 10 June 1939) is a Gibraltarian politician who served as Chief Minister of Gibraltar from 1988 to 1996 and Leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party from 1978 to 2011. He served as Leader of the Opposition ...

of the

Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party The Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) is a social-democratic political party in Gibraltar. The GSLP is the oldest surviving active political party in Gibraltar. Its roots are based in the trade union movement, as its founder and former lea ...

(GSLP), with Canepa obtaining 4,422 votes, while Bossano polled 8,128 votes. Canepa then become

until he announced his resignation just prior to the 1992 election. Canepa also announced his resignation as leader of the AACR and his retirement from politics altogether. The AACR disbanded shortly after.

Later work

Since his official retirement from politics, Canepa has assisted successive Governments of Gibraltar as a

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

, advising them by means of his experience and expertise on

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

and

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

matters. He served in

Peter Caruana Sir Peter Richard Caruana, (born 15 October 1956) is a Gibraltarian former politician who served as Chief Minister of Gibraltar from 1996 to 2011 and Leader of the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) from 1991 to 2013. Caruana is a barrister by pr ...

’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, supporting the Chief Minister in the lobbying campaign and subsequent

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

which led to the derailing of the joint sovereignty proposals in 2002, and later in the Constitutional Reform Group which led to Gibraltar’s current constitution. For the last fifteen years he has worked in the Legislative Unit, the prime function of which is to scrutinise all

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

documents and determine how they might affect Gibraltar. In October 2012, Canepa was appointed the Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament and was the speaker up until 2019 General election.

Honours

On 10 December 2007 Adolfo Canepa was presented with the Gibraltar Award on behalf of the founding fathers of the AACR. The award was presented by the Self Determination for Gibraltar Group in recognition of the AACR's contribution to the political development and

democratisation Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

of Gibraltar. In 2009, Adolfo Canepa was one of the four recipients of the

Gibraltar Medallion of Honour The Gibraltar Medallion of Honour (GMH) is a civil award scheme established by the Government of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Its creation was announced in July 2008 by Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana. It ranks below t ...

and was therefore recorded in the Gibraltar Roll of Honour.

References

External links

The Struggle for Democracy by TJ Finlayson, Published in The Gibraltar Chronicle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canepa, Adolfo 1940 births Living people Chief Ministers of Gibraltar Mayors of Gibraltar Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights politicians People of Ligurian descent Officers of the Order of the British Empire Speakers of the Gibraltar Parliament Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George