Begoña Villacís
Begoña Villacís Sánchez (born 4 November 1977) is a Spanish lawyer and politician who currently serves as Deputy Mayor of Madrid in the government of Mayor Martínez-Almeida. She has been serving as councillor and Spokesperson of Citizens Group of the City Council of Madrid.
Begoña Villacís | |
---|---|
Villacís in 2019 | |
Deputy Mayor of Madrid | |
Assumed office 15 June 2019 | |
Mayor | José Luis Martínez-Almeida |
Preceded by | Marta Higueras |
Personal details | |
Born | Begoña Villacís Sánchez 4 November 1977 Madrid, Spain |
Political party | Ciudadanos |
Children | 3 daughters |
Alma mater | Universidad CEU San Pablo Comillas Pontifical University |
Occupation | lawyer and politician |
Biography
Villacís was born in Madrid in 1975 and her first studies were on La Salle de San Rafael charter school. She lived in Virginia, U.S. between 1992 and 1995.[1] She obtained her degree on law in 2000 by CEU San Pablo University and in 2002 she obtained a Master in Tax Advice and Tax Law by the Comillas Pontifical University.[2][3] According to her, she decided to be a lawyer while watching the movie 12 Angry Men of Sidney Lumet.[4][3]
In June 2003, she became responsible for the Tax, Labour and Commercial Law Areas at Legalitas, a law firm in Spain.[5][3]
As an analyst of legal issues, she regularly collaborated in well-known television shows such as Amigas y conocidas, El gato al agua, España Directo and La mañana de La 1.[5][3] It was precisely at a television gathering, where she met the Citizens Party President Albert Rivera.[3] A voter of Citizens, Villacís began to collaborate with the party in September 2014, advising on local taxes, and she finally joined the party in early 2015.[6] In February 2015 she held a meeting with far-right party Vox, where the later party offered her a position in the list for the 2015 regional election to the Assembly of Madrid but she preferred to maintain the commitment to Citizens.[7] That same month, she ran as a pre-candidate in the Citizens' primary process to determine the party's Mayoral candidate for Madrid. She imposed over the other pre-candidate, Jaime Trabuchelli, commanding 60% of the votes.[2]
The Citizens list for the May 2015 Madrid municipal election headed by Villacís obtained 7 councillors.[8][9] She could not vote for herself because, at that time, she was a registered dweller in Villanueva del Pardillo.[10][11] During the 2015-2019 Madrid City Council' meeting she acted as Spokesperson of her political group.
She renovated her seat for the period 2019-2023 in the 26 May 2019 municipal election. Her list won 11 seats, 4 up from the 7 seats obtained in 2011. Her party and the far-right Vox endorsed the conservative candidate Martínez-Almeida in the investiture vote that took place during the opening session of the new council on 15 June 2019. As part of the investiture agreement Villacís became First Deputy Mayor (and Vice-Mayor).[12]
References
- "Operación Ciudadana Villacís: del vestido de comunión hípster al de alcaldesa de Madrid". El Español (in Spanish). 2018-03-04. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- "Begoña Villacís, elegida candidata de Ciudadanos a la Alcaldía de Madrid". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 2015-02-28. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- "17 cosas que no sabías de Begoña Villacís (Ciudadanos)". El Huffington Post (in Spanish). 2015-03-11. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- "Begoña Villacís (Ciudadanos): "Me siento muy Naranjita"". El Huffington Post (in Spanish). 2015-03-08. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- Mateo, Juan José (2015-03-02). "Ciudadanos presenta sus fichajes para la alcaldía y la Comunidad de Madrid". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- Sanchis, Luz. "Begoña Villacís (Ciudadanos): "Nosotros no somos políticos, somos gente"". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- "Begoña Villacís negoció con Vox para sumarse a sus filas". abc (in Spanish). 2019-02-25. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- 20Minutos (2015-06-15). "Villacís denuncia amenazas: "Nos gritaron que merecíamos la guillotina y la horca"". 20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- Razón, La (2015-06-15). "La nueva política: «¡Hijo de puta, fuera ladrones de las instituciones!»". www.larazon.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- DÍAS, CINCO (2015-06-03). "Dónde viven los futuros gobernantes de Madrid y Barcelona". Cinco Días (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- "Villacís: "La mejor manera de quejarse, es expresarse, y la mejor manera de expresarse es votando"". ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-06-16.
- EFE, RTVE es/ (2019-06-16). "Ayuntamiento de Madrid: Almeida anuncia un gobierno sin Vox pero no descarta que entren". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-06-16.