Juan Espadas Cejas (born 30 September 1966) is a Spanish politician of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gove ...

(PSOE). He was the Minister of Housing and Planning for the

Government of Andalusia The Regional Government of Andalusia ( es, Junta de Andalucía) is the government of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Regional Government and the Government Council. The 2011 budget was 31. ...

from 2008 to 2010 and a senator from 2010 to 2013. From June 2015 to January 2022, he has served as the mayor of

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. He became his party's Secretary General in Andalusia in July 2021.

Biography

Espadas was born in Seville and grew up in the Miraflores district. When he was 22, he graduated from the

University of Seville The University of Seville (''Universidad de Sevilla'') is a university in Seville, Spain. Founded under the name of ''Colegio Santa María de Jesús'' in 1505, it has a present student body of over 69.200, and is one of the top-ranked universi ...

with degree in Law. He also has a degree in Business Management from the Institute of San Telmo. He is married and has two children. In 1990 he began to collaborate with the

(PSOE) as a sympathizer in the Environment sector group and participated in the expert groups for the drafting of the party's program for the regional elections. A year later, she wrote the Manual of the Environment Councillor for the municipal elections of 1991. In 1997 he joined the PSOE and was appointed Federal Coordinator for the Environment, a responsibility he held until 2009. During this stage he worked with the teams of

Joaquín Almunia Joaquín Almunia Amann (born 17 June 1948) is a Spanish politician and formerly, prominent member of the European Commission. During his tenure in the two Barroso Commissions, he was European commissioner responsible for economic and monetary a ...

and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero coordinating the sectorial policies of the environment and territorial planning. In 2008 he participated in the laying of the foundation stone for 583 subsidized housing units (VPO), promoted by the Foundation for the Development of Southern Europe. On 26 March 2010, the 11 PSOE groups of Seville supported Espadas's candidacy for mayor of Seville in the 2011 election. The victory by absolute majority of the People's Party candidate, Juan Ignacio Zoido, placed Espadas as the leader of the main opposition party in the city council for four years. After the 2015 election he became mayor through a pact between the PSOE, United Left and Participa Sevilla. On 15 June 2019, he was re-elected thanks to the 13 votes of the Socialist councillors. In July 2021, Espadas became the new Secretary General of the PSOE in Andalusia, defeating incumbent Susana Díaz with 55% of the vote. He resigned as mayor and city councillor at the start of 2022 to concentrate on his new role, whereby he would be their lead candidate in the regional election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espadas, Juan 1966 births Living people Mayors of Seville Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians People from Seville University of Seville alumni Seville city councillors