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Jorge Azcón

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Jorge Azcón
Azcón as mayor of Zaragoza in 2019
President of the Government of Aragon
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 August 2023
Vice PresidentAlejandro Nolasco (2023–2024)
Mar Vaquero (2024–)
Preceded byJavier Lambán
Member of the Cortes of Aragon
Incumbent
Assumed office
23 June 2023
ConstituencyZaragoza
Mayor of Zaragoza
In office
15 June 2019 – 16 June 2023
Preceded byPedro Santisteve
Succeeded byNatalia Chueca
President of the People's Party of Aragon
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 December 2021
Preceded byLuis María Beamonte
City councillor of Zaragoza
In office
11 June 2011 – 17 June 2023
In office
8 April 2000 – 16 June 2007
Personal details
Born
Jorge Antonio Azcón Navarro

(1973-11-21) 21 November 1973 (age 50)
Zaragoza, Spain
Political partyPeople's Party
Parent
Alma materUniversity of Zaragoza
Signature

Jorge Antonio Azcón Navarro (born 21 November 1973) is a Spanish politician, serving as the President of the Government of Aragon since 2023. He is the president of the People's Party of Aragon. He was also a city councillor (2000–2007; 2011–2023) and the mayor (2019–2023) of Zaragoza.

Early and personal life

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Born in Zaragoza, Azcón is the youngest of five siblings.[1] The eldest, Quino, was his hero and died of an illness.[2]

As of 2023, Azcón is married and has two children.[3] His father Julio (1931–2022) played football for Real Zaragoza in the 1950s and later set up a construction business.[4]

Azcón graduated in Law from the University of Zaragoza, where he also obtained a master's degree in Urban Planning. He then worked for MRA, a business involved in subsidised housing.[5]

Political career

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Early local career (2000–2019)

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Azcón joined the People's Party in 1993.[2] He was the leader of the New Generations of the People's Party in the Province of Zaragoza and the region of Aragon.[5]

In 2000, Luisa Fernanda Rudi resigned as mayor of Zaragoza to be President of the Congress of Deputies, and she was succeeded by José Atarés, who brought Azcón into his cabinet. When Atarés was mayor from 2000 to 2003, Azcón was the councillor in charge of young people, and subsequently he was the party's assistant spokesman when they were in opposition to Juan Alberto Belloch.[5] Before the 2003 Zaragoza City Council election, Atarés sent Azcón, who was not yet 30, to debate on television against Belloch.[3]

Ahead of the 2007 Zaragoza City Council election, new lead candidate Domingo Buesa Conde [es] removed Azcón and two other serving councillors from his list. Azcón returned to working at MRA.[2]

Azcón returned to politics in July 2010, when Luisa Fernanda Rudi, president of the People's Party of Aragon, named him as one of four coordinators of the party in Zaragoza.[6] For the 2011 Zaragoza City Council election, he was fifth on the PP list led by Eloy Suárez [es].[7] Four years later, he was second on the list.[8] In February 2016, when Suárez left the city hall to centre his work on the Congress of Deputies, the party unanimously chose Azcón to be the new spokesman.[9]

Mayor of Zaragoza (2019–2023)

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In the 2019 Zaragoza election, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) led by Pilar Alegría was the party that obtained the most seats, though the People's Party could gain the majority in alliance with fellow centre-right party Citizens.[10] With the votes of his party (8), Citizens (6) and Vox (2) he was invested as the city's first non-left-wing mayor in 16 years.[11]

Among Azcón's projects for Zaragoza is "El Bosque de los Zaragozanos", a plan to create a forest of 700,000 trees. The project received €400,000 from energy company Repsol in 2021.[12]

In July 2021, Azcón led the city council in displaying a banner with the rainbow and transgender flags from the city hall balcony. A judge ordered its removal, citing a 2020 Supreme Court judgement that public buildings cannot fly unofficial flags at any time, for reasons of neutrality.[13]

In August 2021, as spokesman of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), Azcón led several PP mayors in criticising the PSOE-led national government whom he accused of lying over investment in municipalities during the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]

President of the Government of Aragon (2023–)

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Azcón (left) meeting Margaritis Schinas at the European Commission in January 2024

Azcón was housebound for two weeks in January 2021 after contracting COVID-19.[15] In December that year he was chosen as the PP's lead candidate for the 2023 Aragonese regional election, replacing Luis María Beamonte.[16] He led the party to first place, up 12 seats to 28.[17]

After being sworn in as President he formed the Azcón government, in coalition with the seven deputies from Vox and the one from the Aragonese Party (PAR).[18] The coalition between Vox and PP was signed with 80 points, including removing "ideology" from education, repealing the regional Historical Memory Law and modifying the regional law on transgender rights, combating violence within the family and against women, and reversing depopulation.[19]

In July 2024, Vox pulled out of the government, due to party leader and regional vice president Alejandro Nolasco disagreeing with the accommodation of unaccompanied migrant children (known in Spain by the acronym mena; Menor extranjero no acompañado [es]). Azcón said that he would not call a snap election and would instead govern in a PP-only minority government.[20]

References

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  1. ^ Velasco, Javier L. (12 October 2021). "Jorge Azcón: "Zaragoza es una ciudad de la que sentirse orgulloso"" [Jorge Azcón: "Zaragoza is a city to be proud of"]. Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "El heredero de Pepe" [The heir to Pepe]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 16 June 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b López, M. (10 August 2023). "Jorge Azcón: el alcalde de Aragón". Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  4. ^ Ferrer, Pedro Luis (27 May 2022). "Fallece el ex jugador Julio Azcón, padre del alcalde de Zaragoza" [Ex-player Julio Azcón, father of the mayor of Zaragoza, dies]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  5. ^ a b c "¿Quién es Jorge Azcón, nuevo alcalde de Zaragoza?" [Who is Jorge Azcón, the new mayor of Zaragoza?]. Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). 15 June 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Rudi devuelve a Jorge Azcón a la escena política municipal" [Rudi brings Jorge Azcón back to the municipal political scene]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 10 July 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  7. ^ "El PP renueva su lista al Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza e incluye a Jorge Azcón y María Jesús Martínez del Campo" [PP renew their list for Zaragoza City Council and include Jorge Azcón and María Jesús Martínez del Campo]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). Europa Press. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  8. ^ "El PP aúpa a Jorge Azcón como número 2 de Eloy Suárez" [PP boost Jorge Azcón to Eloy Suárez's number 2]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 17 April 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  9. ^ "El PP designa a Jorge Azcón portavoz en el Ayuntamiento, tras la marcha de Suárez" [PP designates Jorge Azcón as spokesperson in the City Hall, after Suárez's exit]. Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). 1 February 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Alegría (PSOE) gana en Zaragoza pero Azcón (PP) podría gobernar" [Alegría (PSOE) wins in Zaragoza but Azcón (PP) could govern] (in Spanish). Cadena SER. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  11. ^ "Azcón, investido alcalde de Zaragoza con los votos de Cs y Vox" [Azcón, invested as mayor of Zaragoza with votes from Cs and Vox]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 15 June 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Fundación Repsol aporta 400.000 euros al proyecto del Bosque de los Zaragozanos" [Repsol Foundation contributes 400,000 euros to the Bosque de los Zaragozanos project] (in Spanish). Europa Press. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  13. ^ Pérez, Roberto (2 July 2021). "Un juez obliga al Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza a retirar una pancarta con la bandera LGTBI" [A judge orders Zaragoza City Council to take down a banner with the LGBTI flag on it]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  14. ^ "Jorge Azcón: "Sánchez también ha mentido a los ayuntamientos en la pandemia"" [Jorge Azcón: "Sánchez has also lied to city halls during the pandemic"]. ABC (in Spanish). 10 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  15. ^ "El alcalde de Zaragoza se reincorpora al Ayuntamiento tras pasar el covid-19" [Mayor of Zaragoza returns to City Hall after recovering from COVID-19]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 27 January 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  16. ^ Carnicero, Laura (18 December 2021). "Jorge Azcón coge el mando del PP de Aragón y abre una nueva etapa" [Jorge Azcón takes control of the Aragon PP and opens a new era]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  17. ^ "Jorge Azcón será el presidente de Aragón y promete gobernar "para todos"" [Jorge Azcón will be the president of Aragon and promises to govern "for everyone"]. Diario del AltoAragón (in Spanish). 29 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  18. ^ "Así es el nuevo gobierno de Jorge Azcón: estos son los nuevos consejeros en Aragón" [How Jorge Azcón's new government will be: these are the new ministers of Aragon] (in Spanish). Cadena SER. 11 August 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  19. ^ Ortega Hernández, Álvaro (5 August 2023). "El acuerdo de 80 puntos entre PP y Vox en Aragón: de la educación "sin ideología" a la derogación de la Ley de Memoria" [The 80-point agreement between the PP and Vox in Aragon: from education "without ideology" to the repeal of the Memory Law]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  20. ^ "Azcón descarta la convocatoria de elecciones y el PP gobernará en solitario en Aragón" [Azcón dismisses the calling of elections and the PP will govern alone in Aragon]. El Economista (in Spanish). 12 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
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