"The centre-right cannot stay at home on 26 May", insisted José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the PP candidate for the Mayor of Madrid, repeatedly during his speech at the Observatorio Proa Comunicación with a presentation entitled 'Recovering Madrid for all'.held at the Wellington Hotel.
Martínez-Almeida placed special emphasis on the need to mobilise his electorate "to exercise a democratic counterweight" to the policies of the central government led by the PSOE. In this regard, he referred to the policies of tax cuts and public spending carried out by the PP government in the Community of Madrid at the time when José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was in the central government.
The PP candidate did not want to waste time in blaming anyone for the results of the general elections. "It is clear that no centre-right voter can be happy, as the main objective was to oust Sánchez and eliminate the influence of Podemos".he admitted. But he encouraged voters not to be influenced by the latest and recent results of the CIS, which gives the absolute majority to the sum of the seats of PSOE, Más Madrid and Unidas Podemos, "because the centre-right got 180,000 votes more than the left in the Community of Madrid". He expressed his conviction that, "with equal mobilisation of the left and the right, we will win".
"Recover Madrid's sense of sense and pride in order to create enthusiasm for the city".
He also postulated his party as the great unifier of the centre-right vote, "as Ciudadanos can give support to PSOE" and VOX "has such a narrow ideological spectrum that it will be useless". This last reason, he said, will bring back to the PP the voters who have gone to this party. He argued that the PP should be the hegemonic force of the centre-right because of its transversality.
The PP candidate for Mayor of Madrid also outlined the philosophy and some specific measures of his electoral programme in response to questions from the audience. In this way, he said that Madrid has the conditions to be one of the main international centres for the generation of wealth and employment, "but it needs to create a global brand and I want to generalise that brand".
On the other hand, he also advocated tax reductions and incentives for public-private collaboration. Within the framework of the former, he included, for example, rebates for large families through IBI or the Tax on Motor Vehicles. But, above all, he advocated "implement policies to boost economic activity in order to resist the recessionary scenario that is coming our way".He also said he would "simplify regulations with the aim of reducing the margin of discretionality that exists in the city of Madrid" and, above all, "create spaces for society to decide and for me as mayor to carry out what it wants". And all of this, recovering "good sense" and "pride in Madrid" in order to create "enthusiasm" for the city.
Martínez-Almeida, who confessed that he is not afraid of "making decisions", also responded to questions related to the environment, Madrid Central, the use of environmentally friendly vehicles, the regulation of VTCs and his proposals to promote the construction of energy-sustainable housing, among other issues.
Biography of José Luis Martínez-Almeida
José Luis Martínez-Almeida was born in Madrid in 1975. A graduate in Law from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICAI-ICADE), he has been a State Lawyer since 2001. He has practised in Gerona, Toledo and Madrid. In 2007 he was appointed Director General of Historical Heritage of the Community of Madrid, a post he held until 2011. Between 2011 and 2013 he was Secretary General of the Governing Council of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Secretary General of the Board of Directors of SEPI Desarrollo Empresarial (SEPIDES) from September 2013 to April 2014, also taking on the position of Director of the Legal Department.
In April 2014 he was appointed by agreement of the Council of Ministers as Director of the Legal and Institutional Division of the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility. After the Municipal and Autonomous Community Elections of 2015, he took office as Councillor of the GM PP and on 28 April 2017 he was elected Spokesperson of the Municipal Group of the Partido Popular, a post he currently holds. On January 13, 2019, he was appointed Candidate for Mayor of Madrid for the Partido Popular. His hobbies include golf and his passion for Atlético de Madrid.
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