Xavier García Albiol (born 8 December 1967) is a Spanish politician and member of the People's Party. He has been the president of the

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia (Spain). It is located to the north east of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By population, ...

branch of his party since 1990, and he was the mayor of Badalona between 2011 and 2015, and again from 2020 to 2021. He was reelected mayor by an absolute margin in 2023.

Biography

Born as the son of an ''egetano'' (constituent of Vélez-Blanco)

street sweeper A street sweeper or street cleaner is a person or machine that cleans streets. People have worked in cities as "sanitation workers" since sanitation and Waste management, waste removal became a priority. A street-sweeping person would use a b ...

driver and a Catalan

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...

, Albiol grew up in Morera, on the outskirts of the city of

, and studied at the Colegio Badalonés. Later, thanks to his height of , he played basketball with the team

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two team ...

. He began studying law, but in 1989 abandoned his studies for a career in politics. In 1990, he became president of the People's Party of Badalona. In 1991, Albiol was sworn into his first

public office Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

, as a

councilor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regio ...

in Badalona.

Politics

He has been the president of the People's Party of Badalona twice: first from 1990 to 1996, and then from 2001 to the present. Between 1995 and 2000, he was the

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the People's Party. Between 2000 and 2003, he was vice-Secretary General of the

People's Party of Catalonia The People's Party of Catalonia (, , PP or PPC) is a conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Catalonia. It is the Catalan affiliate of the Spanish People's Party and holds strongly unionist positions.2008 Spanish general election A General elections in Spain, general election was held in Spain on Sunday, 9 March 2008, to elect the members of the 9th . All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 264 seats in the Senate of Spain, Senate ...

. In regards to local administrative () positions, he was

deputy speaker Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain ...

of the People's Party in the Comarcal Council of Barcelonés between 1991 and 1995, and, later, between 1995 and 1999 he became the speaker. During this time he also served as advisor to the

Mancomunidad In present-day Spain, a ''mancomunidad'' ( * * * * * ) is an association of municipalities voluntarily established by some municipalities with the aim of carrying out joint projects or providing common services. A mancomunidad is one of ...

of Municipalities of the

Metropolitan Area of Barcelona The Barcelona urban area is an urban area in Catalonia (Spain) centered on the city of Barcelona and located less than 100 km south of the border with France. With a population of over 5 million, it is one of the largest urban areas in Europ ...

. Afterwards, between 1999 and 2003, he was speaker for his party in the

Provincial Deputation of Barcelona The Provincial Deputation of Barcelona (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Diputació de Barcelona''; Spanish: ''Diputación de Barcelona'') is the Local government in Spain, local government body charged with the government and administration of the pro ...

. He is currently a member of the executive committee of the PPC and president of his party in the Diputación Provincial.

Mayor of Badalona

On 6 June 2011, Albiol was elected Mayor of Badalona by

simple majority Simple majority may refer to: * Majority, a voting requirement of more than half of all votes cast * Plurality (voting), a voting requirement of more votes cast for a proposition than for any other option * First-past-the-post voting, the single-win ...

. In 2010, rival party

Initiative for Catalonia Greens Initiative for Catalonia Greens (, ICV; ) was an eco-socialist political party in Catalonia. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was ...

brought a case against Albiol before the

Public Prosecutor's Office Public prosecutor's offices are criminal justice bodies attached to the judiciary. They are separate from the courts in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and are called the Staatsanwaltschaft (). This kind of offi ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, charging him with violating article 510 of the

Spanish Penal Code The Criminal Code is a law that codifies most criminal offences in Spain. The Code is established by an organic law, the Organic Law 10/1995, of 23 November, of the Criminal Code (''Ley Orgánica 10/1995, de 23 de noviembre, del Código Penal' ...

following his publication of a pamphlet they alleged to be

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

because it linked immigration of Romani people from Romania to increased crime. On 11 December 2013, he was acquitted of all charges by the . On 23 January 2013, Albiol, with the support of the city's supermarkets, launched a campaign titled "''A Badalona no es llença el menjar''" (In Badalona, we don't waste food) which sought to reduce the price of food nearing its expiration date by 50%. Despite receiving the most votes at 35%, Albiol's list lost the 2015 Badalona municipal election. The People's Party obtained the highest number of city councilors (11, out of 27), but 15 councilors of other parties united their investiture votes to invest runner-up

Dolors Sabater Maria Dolors Sabater Puig (born 28 November 1960) is a Catalan teacher, social activist and politician from Spain. She was mayor of Badalona from 2015 to 2018, and elected to the Parliament of Catalonia in 2021. Career Sabater is a teacher wi ...

instead. Responding to the news, Albiol was quoted by '' El Mundo'' as saying ''"Esta ciudad está indignada al ver lo que se ha hecho hoy. Por primera vez, en esta ciudad hay una alcaldesa que no es de la fuerza más votada."'' (This city is outraged at what happened today. For the first time in the history of this city there is a mayor who received a minority of votes.) In April 2020, Socialist mayor Àlex Pastor resigned after being arrested for assaulting a member of the

Mossos d'Esquadra The ''Mossos d'Esquadra'' (; ), also known as the ''Policia de la Generalitat de Catalunya'' and informally as ''Mossos'', is the State police#Spain, regional police force in the autonomous community of Catalonia. They trace their origins back ...

. Albiol became mayor for the second time, as the Socialists and left-wing separatists could not agree to a power-sharing pact. In addition to his role in parliament, Albiol has been serving as member of the Spanish delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

since 2016. He is currently a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights; the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by

Member States of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being th ...

(Monitoring Committee); and the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons. In October 2021, Albiol's name appeared on the

Pandora Papers The Pandora Papers are 11.9 million leaked documents with 2.9 terabytes of data that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published beginning on 3 October 2021. The leak exposed the secret offshore accounts of 35 ...

linked to an offshore venture in

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

, leading the opposition groups in the city council to announce a vote of no confidence against him, which was passed on November 8, 2021, and resulted in Rubén Guijarro of the

Socialist Party of Catalonia The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (, PSC–PSOE) is a social democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain, resulting from the merger of three parties: the Socialist Party of Catalonia–Regrouping, led by Josep Pallach i Carolà, the Socia ...

replacing Albiol as mayor. In the 2023 municipal elections, the Popular Party won a plurality of the vote and 18 of the 27 town councillors. García Albiol was sworn in for the third time on June 18, 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Albiol, Xavier 1967 births Living people People from Badalona Mayors of Badalona Members of the 12th Parliament of Catalonia Members of the 11th Parliament of Catalonia Municipal councillors in the province of Barcelona People named in the Pandora Papers