Francisco de la Torre (politician)

Francisco de la Torre Prados (born 21 December 1942)^[1] is a Spanish People's Party (PP) politician who has been the mayor of Málaga since 2000. He has also been president of the Provincial Deputation of Málaga (1971–1975), a member of the Congress of Deputies (1977–1982) and Senate (2011–2014).

Francisco de la Torre
De la Torre in 2010
Mayor of Málaga
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 May 2000
Preceded by	Celia Villalobos
Senator
In office 13 December 2011 – 20 June 2014
Constituency	Málaga
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office 22 July 1977 – 28 October 1982
Constituency	Málaga
President of the Provincial Deputation of Málaga
In office 18 February 1971 – 18 February 1976
Personal details
Born	21 December 1942 (1942-12-21) (age 81) Málaga, Andalusia, Spain
Political party	People's Party (PP)

He began his political career in 1971 as president of the Provincial Deputation of Málaga, being dismissed in 1975 by the Francoist government for his liberal views. He served in the Congress of Deputies as a member of the Union of the Democratic Centre, and was elected to Málaga City Council in 1995. He was part of the local government of Celia Villalobos and succeeded her as mayor in 2000.

De la Torre has won six local elections, though in 2015 and 2019 his party needed support from Citizens to form a majority in the city hall. He has been awarded the Legion of Honour by France, the Medal of Pushkin by Russia, and is an honorary member of the Order of the British Empire.

Early life and career

Born in Málaga, De la Torre graduated in Sociology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca, earned a doctorate in Agronomic Engineering from the University of Madrid, and graduated in Regional Development from the University of Rennes in France.^[2] In 1971, aged 28, he was appointed president of the Provincial Deputation of Málaga under the Francoist dictatorship, and was dismissed in 1975 due to his liberal views.^[2]

In 1977, in the first democratic elections after the end of the dictatorship, De la Torre was elected to the Congress of Deputies for the Union of the Democratic Centre, where he remained until 1982.^[2] From May 1978 to June 1979 he was Advisor for Economy and Finance in the nascent Junta of Andalusia.^[2]

Mayor of Málaga

In 1995, De la Torre, by then an independent politician, was elected to Málaga's city council as second on the People's Party list, and joined the party the following year.^[2] Mayor Celia Villalobos made him first deputy mayor, government spokesperson and Councillor responsible for City Planning, Housing, Projects, Territorial Development and Transport.^[2] Villalobos left in 2000 to become Minister of Health, and De la Torre became mayor.^[2]

In the 2011 general election, De la Torre returned to the Cortes Generales for the first time in 29 years as the Senate candidate in Málaga with the most votes (341,850).^[3] He quit this post in June 2014 to concentrate on the upcoming mayoral elections.^[4]

From left to right: De la Torre, Fleur Pellerin, Mariano Rajoy and Alain Seban at the opening of the Centre Pompidou's Málaga location in March 2015

De la Torre's party retained their majority in Málaga city hall in 2003, 2007 and 2011, but in 2015 they had to form a coalition with Citizens; this result still made him the PP mayor of the largest city; he blamed national corruption scandals for the party's decline in popularity.^[5] In 2019, he needed the support of the two Citizens councillors to form a majority for his sixth mandate.^[6]

De la Torre suffered a stroke in April 2020. After a month in hospital, he returned to work.^[7] Later in May, he marked 20 years as mayor.^[8] An article in La Opinión de Málaga was mostly positive on his two decades, apart from some expensive failed projects such as the Museum of Gems,^[9] and sanitation worker strikes.^[8]

In September 2022, De la Torre announced that he would stand for mayor for the sixth time in the May 2023 elections, by which time he would be 80.^[10] His party returned to majority government for the first time in eight years, increasing their share from 14 to 17 of the 31 seats amidst the wipeout of Citizens.^[11]

Honours

In October 2017, De la Torre was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour on the 50th anniversary of Málaga's French community organisation.^[12] In November 2018, President of Russia Vladimir Putin made him the first Spanish recipient of the Medal of Pushkin, for having opened museums of Russian art in the city.^[13] After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he faced calls to return the medal and close the museum.^[14]

In September 2021, he was appointed Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for services to bilateral relations between Málaga and the UK.^[15]

References

1. "La fiesta del 80 cumpleaños de De la Torre: una tarta de La Farola y un brindis por Málaga" [De la Torre's 80th birthday party: a cake in the shape of Málaga lighthouse and a toast to Málaga] (in Spanish). Málaga Hoy. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
2. "Francisco de la Torre Prados (Málaga)". ABC (in Spanish). 11 May 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
3. Romero, Antonio M. (21 November 2011). "Francisco de la Torre se convierte en el senador más votado" [Francisco de la Torre becomes the most-voted Senator]. Diario Sur (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
4. "De la Torre confirma que será, de nuevo, candidato a la alcaldía y que deja el Senado" [De la Torre confirms that he will be mayoral candidate, again, and that he is leaving the Senate] (in Spanish). Cadena SER. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
5. Ruiz Valdivia, Antonio (30 June 2015). "Francisco de la Torre: "La imagen de la corrupción ha hecho un daño enorme al PP"" [Francisco de la Torre: "The image of corruption has caused enormous harm to the PP"]. HuffPost (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
6. "Francisco de la Torre repite como alcalde de Málaga" [Francisco de la Torre re-elected as mayor of Málaga] (in Spanish). El Plural. 15 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
7. "El alcalde de Málaga se reincorpora a su puesto tras recuperarse del ictus cerebral que sufrió" [The mayor of Málaga returns to his office after recovering from the stroke that he suffered]. ABC (in Spanish). 18 May 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
8. Sau, José Antonio (10 May 2020). "De la Torre, 20 años de una continua metamorfosis" [De la Torre, 20 years of a continuous metamorphosis]. La Opinión de Málaga (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
9. Marinetto, Pablo (11 February 2020). "El museo que abrió dos horas y costó más de siete millones" [The museum that was open for two hours and cost over seven million]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
10. Saiz, Eva (20 September 2022). "Francisco de la Torre repetirá a los 80 años por sexta vez como candidato a la alcaldía de Málaga" [Francisco de la Torre will be candidate for mayor of Málaga again for the sixth time at the age of 80]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 December 2022.
11. "El PP vuelve a la mayoría absoluta en Málaga capital, con 17 ediles, al 98,7% escrutado, Vox entra y CS desaparece" [PP return to absolute majority in the city of Málaga, with 17 councillors, with 98.7% of the vote counted, Vox enters and CS disappear] (in Spanish). Europa Press. 28 May 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
12. Ruiz Fájula, Damián (12 October 2017). "50 años de la Liga Francesa en Málaga" [50 years of the French League in Málaga]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 September 2021.
13. "Sebastiá Roig y Francisco de la Torre reciben las mayores condecoraciones de manos de Putin" [Sebastiá Roig and Francisco de la Torre receive the highest decorations from the hands of Putin] (in Spanish). RTVE. 4 November 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
14. "Un tuit del alcalde de Málaga sobre la guerra en Ucrania suscita polémica en las redes" [A tweet by the mayor of Málaga on the war in Ukraine arouses controversy on the web] (in Spanish). Málaga Hoy. 27 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
15. "Honorary Awards to Foreign Nationals in 2021". gov.uk. Retrieved 25 September 2021.