José Luis Sanz, elected mayor of Seville: "The wave against Sánchez is not only about Bildu, it is about punishing Seville without investments to give them to Catalonia"

• 28-M José Luis Sanz and Marifrán Carazo, the two spearheads of the PP-A on 28-M

Few PP politicians can carry on their personal record of service having snatched from the PSOE not one, but two mayors. In 2007 he won by 102 votes to the socialist Antonia Hierro and took over the government of Tomares. And in 2023 he has done the same with Antonio Muñoz, after a hard-fought campaign for control of the Seville City Council. The Andalusian capital was one of the strategic squares of 28M and has ended up being a symbol of the resounding loss of territorial power of the PSOE. José Luis Sanz (Seville, 1968) grew up politically under the influence of Javier Arenas and was about to be appointed in 2014 to lead the Andalusian PP, but Mariano Rajoy chose Juanma Moreno at the last minute. He was a candidate for mayor of the Andalusian capital by decision of Pablo Casado, although Moreno made the election his own, thus avoiding a confrontation with the PP of Seville. The arrival of Feijóo in Genoa and, above all, the electoral successes have ended up closing the wounds. That's what they say at least.

What has had more influence on your electoral triumph, your project for Seville or the campaign against the sanchismo of the PP? Well, a mix of everything a little bit. Despite the sentiment that exists against Pedro Sánchez, there are socialist mayors who have resisted very well. It has influenced the wave against Pedro Sánchez, also the Juanma Moreno effect and, without a doubt, the work we have done for 600 days, which has highlighted the deficits that the city has but has also excited many Sevillians with the change, so that this city begins to function in a different way. I haven't run a particularly angry campaign. It is true that national noise has inevitably crept into the campaign. Look, I remember when in 2003 the PP called us "murderers" on the street, but that rejection always came from the radical left. But the wave against Pedro Sánchez is perceived even in neighborhoods of socialist vote, because they have felt abandoned.Are you worried about having to agree with Vox to approve the budgets, for example? I am going to govern alone because, as the most voted list, I am guaranteed investiture. But it is true that we will have to be open to many pacts. And to negotiate with Vox, with the PSOE or with anyone who wants to put the interests of the city before his own or those of his party.Do you intend to continue in the Senate?No. Seville requires 100% dedication: 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Look, I've been in the game since the 90s and I started doing thousands of kilometers through Andalusia with Javier Arenas. Therefore, I was a Arenista and after Rajoy and Zoido and Casado. And, if Juanma Moreno had not wanted it, I would not have been a candidate. So I am not a stronghold of the era of Casado or anyone.Are you not going to become then a counterpower within the Andalusian PP? I am 54 years old and I have been through many places in politics. My dream today is to be mayor of Seville with a long-term project to put it in the place it deserves. And when this project is over, I probably won't feel like getting into any other adventures. What I like is municipal politics, which, by the way, is the most sacrificed. So, won't we see him in the succession race of Juanma Moreno? Juanma Moreno still has a long way to go in Andalusia. Look, I've been working hard for 600 days and arriving very late at my house to, now, not think about anything but Seville and how to turn this city around. You know, it rose brilliantly and achieved a historic absolute majority, but even faster was the fall. Well, he had a very complicated time, in the middle of the economic crisis. A debt of more than 800 million euros was found and then Minister Montoro arrived with the cuts. And to that was added the fragmentation of the political landscape. It was the perfect storm. Even so, I remind you that Zoido has been three times a candidate for mayor of Seville and three times he has won the elections. The government snatched a pact of losers.What city are you going to find when you take office as mayor? Well, a city that does not work, with a lack of security and cleanliness, and with parks that have no life because there is no activity in them. We are one step away from losing position in the ranking in favor of Zaragoza, and Málaga has snatched the cultural capital from us, despite the fact that Seville has infinite possibilities. Look, we come from a government that has thought about designing a city for 20 years that has neglected the present, the day to day. And those who do not know how to manage the day to day will not know how to manage the future either. You say that Seville is dirty and that Lipasam does not work. Are you considering privatizing it? What I am going to do is look for a good professional who knows how to organize, manage, direct and plan in Lipasam. And I hope that within a year we can start to see results. But do you rule out privatization then? Lipasam worked with Soledad Becerril, when the city even received recognition for its cleanliness. And it began to work with Zoido, although it even had to face a strike. Today we are one of the three dirtiest cities in Spain. I know I can get it working again, choosing the best professionals and negotiating a lot with their workers. In this legislature I have no intention of privatisation. I am convinced that Lipasam has an arrangement as a public company. Seville has six neighborhoods among the poorest in Spain and the oldest shanty town in Europe.This city has no future either as a tourist power or as a cultural or aeronautical capital if we do not solve the problem of those neighborhoods. It takes someone to coordinate all the investment that comes in for it to bear fruit. Now there are administrations, brotherhoods, NGOs, associations... that move each on their own. We need employment plans, education policies and urban transformation, because many of these nuclei have been turned into ghettos.Are you going to meet with Endesa to solve the problem of blackouts? You have to sit down with the company to plan all the missing electricity investments in those areas. You know that in those neighborhoods there is also a problem with marijuana plantations and illegal hooks. And where are the judges, where are the prosecutors? You only have to walk around the area to know where these plantations are. This reality generates many problems of coexistence and there are magnificent people who are having a very bad time. Yes, but by agreement with the sector and provided that it is a finalist. The city has, for example, a huge municipal heritage pending rehabilitation that could be undertaken with that extra income. In the historic center there is not even one more tourist apartment. In the last 8 years, 45,000 places in apartments and housing for tourism purposes have been licensed. But the Government of the Board, in the hands of the PP, has appealed the rule that the City Council has approved precisely to restrict tourist flats in Seville.One of the first meetings I will have as mayor will be with the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sport, to start working on that decree prepared by the Board for tourist housing. And that is what the mayor of Seville should have already done, because we are late.Are you going to stop any of the projects that are underway and with which you expressed your disagreement? I am referring to the Seville East trambus or the extension of the tram. Look, mayors can't be revisionists. Otherwise, cities do not advance. And I do not see any sense in the extension that is being made of the tram. I wouldn't have taken him to Santa Juthis but to the Cerro del Águila, for example. As for the tram, I think that for the neighbors it is much more practical to reach the meadow of San Bernardo. And are you going to ask for the construction of the SE-40 bridge to be stopped? I think that bridge is a big lie, a kick to the ball forward. Because it will never receive a positive declaration of environment, in the middle of the Doñana premarsh. I will try to resume the project for the construction of the tunnels. But, while we resolve this question, what has happened to the rest of the sections of the SE40? It has never been so paralyzed as it is now. A new section has not been tendered since 2018. The wave against Pedro Sánchez is not only about Bildu, but it has to do with the fact that he has punished Seville without investments. The Sevillian has seen that a president of the PP has had to arrive at the Board to unblock line 3 of the metro or reform the old military hospital. But the PSOE has been denying investments to Seville for eight years to take them mainly to Catalonia.What do you think about us being back in the electoral campaign in a month? A disaster, a terrible irresponsibility. But, the sooner we get rid of this character so disastrous for Spain and for Seville, the better.Do you fear a high abstention among your voters? On the one hand, yes. But, notice that I am meeting many people who tell me that they are not going to vote by mail, but that they are going to return expressly from the beach to vote in person. It is as if this attempt to demobilize has made many even more eager to vote on 23-J.

• Municipal Elections
• Seville
• Pedro Sanchez
• Alberto Núñez Feijóo
• Pablo Casado
• Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla
• Doñana

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