The newly appointed President of the Valencia Region, Carlos Mazón, has announced a joint Council, “with proven experience in management” and with a smaller organic structure that will allow “reducing political spending”.
Mazón explained that the new Consell is structured into the Presidency and nine ministries, two of which will have the rank of vice-presidencies.
During his speech, the president highlighted the parity of the new Valencian government, as well as the reduction in the number of departments, since there will be two less ministries than up to now, which will lead to a “reduction in political spending”. Likewise, he has highlighted the “proven management experience” that all the members of the Consell have, which he has described as “the best possible”, and has underlined the “solvency, efficiency, better management, absence of prejudice and determination” of the new Valencian Government.
The head of the Valencian Government has insisted on the need to “optimise political spending” and has ensured that “more and better can be done” with fewer economic resources dedicated to the organic structure of the Consell.
Likewise, the president has indicated that the priority lines of his government are to achieve the energy sovereignty of the Valencian Community, for which the management for the implementation of “sustainable and efficient” energies will be expedited, as well as applying innovation policies in a transversal manner, especially in the productive sectors of the Valencian Community, and has defended that this be carried out from Alicante, where the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism will be located.
New structure of the Council
Specifically, the First Vice-Presidency and Ministry of Culture and Sports will be held by Vicente Barrera Simó, from Vox, a Law graduate from the University of Valencia and a businessman. Barrera has developed his professional career as a bullfighter and currently manages companies linked to the agri-food industry, the catering sector, the hotel industry and the real estate field.
He has carried out the work of regional coordinator of VOX in Valencia, prior to the parliamentary representation of the party, since 2018.
The second Vice-Presidency and Ministry of Social Services, Equality and Housing falls to Susana Camarero Benítez, from the PP, a Law graduate from the University of Valencia, currently chairs the National Confederation of Women in Equality since 2021 and is Senior Director of Political Context in Llorente and Cuenca.
Camarero has been spokesman for the Equality Commission and the Social Services Commission of the Congress of Deputies during four legislatures, and has participated as a speaker in the approval of the Law on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence and the Law for the Effective Equality of Women and Men. She has also been president of the Senate Equality Commission, where she led the work that approved the State Pact against Gender Violence in the Upper House.
The Ministry of Finance, Economy and Public Administration will be occupied by Ruth Merino Peña, who will also hold the role of spokesperson for the Council. Merino has a degree in Economic and Business Sciences from the University of Valencia and a Treasury technician from the State Administration.
Merino has worked for several years in the Tax Agency in Barcelona and Valencia and has been a deputy in the Corts since 2019, where she is part of the Finance Commission and the Economy and Industry Commission. She has also been spokesperson for the Valencian Radio and Television Commission and spokesperson for the Ciudadanos Parliamentary Group from March 2021 to January 2023.
Elisa Núñez Sánchez, PhD in Law from the University of Alicante and a graduate in Religious Sciences from the Pontifical University of Comillas in Madrid, will be in charge of the Ministry of Justice and the Interior. She is currently a professor at the Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, as well as a practicing lawyer and legal counsel in matrimonial and criminal law at the Valencia Bar Association. She is also an accredited lawyer before the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Court of Valencia and has been an adviser and manager of integration programs for immigrants and foreigners in the VII legislature of the Generalitat Valenciana.
As for the Ministry of Health, it will be occupied by Marciano Gómez Gómez, a graduate in Medicine and Surgery. Gómez is a specialist in Family and Community Medicine, as well as an Accreditation of Health Centres and Services, a Master’s Degree in Management and Organisation of Hospitals and Health Services, in Management for the Humanisation of Health and in Home Hospitalisation. He currently holds the position of director of the Medical Clinical Management area at La Fe University Hospital, and has been a promoter in health management for the implementation of public-private collaboration and the regulations that regulate medical guards both in the field of primary and hospital care currently in force.
The Ministry of Education, Universities and Employment will be led by José Antonio Rovira Jover, who has a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Alicante, and a tenured professor in the Department of Applied Economics and Economic Policy at the University of Alicante.
He has held various positions in the Alicante city council as deputy mayor, deputy spokesperson and councillor for Citizen Security, Traffic and Transport, as well as in the Provincial Council of Alicante and in Les Corts. He has also been General Director of Personnel and Territorial Director of the Ministry of Culture and Education of the Generalitat. During the X legislature he has been a deputy in Les Corts and spokesman for the Local Governance and Administration Commission.
At the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries will be José Luis Aguirre Larrauri, an agricultural technical engineer, and deputy in Les Corts during the last legislature, as well as spokesman for his political group in the Water, Environment and Agriculture commissions. He has been vice president of the Official College of Agricultural Technical Engineers, delegate of the Order of Malta in Valencia and managing director of the Great Charity Association.
The Ministry of the Environment, Water, Infrastructures and Territory will be occupied by Salomé Pradas Ten, a Law graduate from the Jaume I University of Castellón, and current councillor of the Castellón City Council and regional deputy of Les Corts.
During her professional career, she has been general director of the Natural Environment of the Generalitat, councillor of the Castellón City Council, senator for Castellón and has also held the positions of vice-president of the Transport Commission, constitutional spokesperson, and general secretary and deputy spokesperson of the PP Parliamentary Group.
Finally, the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism will be directed by Nuria Montes de Diego, who will be based in both Alicante and Valencia. Montes has a degree in Law from the University of Alicante and is a specialist in Business Management and Administration. She has developed her professional career in the field of tourism business in the Valencian Community, and from 1995 to the present she has held the position of general secretary of the Hotel and Tourism Business Association of the Valencian Community (Hosbec).
She is a member of the board of directors and actively participates in the entire chain of business representation of entities such as the CEOE, the CEV or the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero. Likewise, she works as a professor at the University of Alicante and Business Schools. She has also participated in the creation of the public-private promotional entity VisitBenidorm in which she, to date, holds the position of secretary. In the field of innovation, she has promoted projects for the tourism sector.
The mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón, who was elevated to stand in the regional elections this term has not been named in any regional government competence role.
