Valentín González Formoso

Spanish politician

Valentín González Formoso (born 1971) is a Spanish politician of the Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG). He is a city councillor (2003–) and mayor (2007–) of his hometown of As Pontes de García Rodríguez, the president of the Provincial Deputation of A Coruña (2015–) and secretary general of his party since December 2021.

Biography

Born in As Pontes de García Rodríguez, González Formoso studied Law but put his course on hiatus due to work. First elected to the city council of As Pontes de García Rodríguez in 2003, he became mayor in 2007 and was re-elected in 2011 and 2015, all three times with an absolute majority.^[1]^[2] In June 2015, the same month as his third election, he became president of the Provincial Deputation of A Coruña due to a pact with the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) and En Marea.^[3] In an interview with ABC in December 2015, he defended provincial deputations against their critics, including the BNG.^[4]

In October 2021, González Formoso put himself forward as a candidate for secretary general of the PSdeG.^[5] He defeated incumbent Gonzalo Caballero by 59.7% to 40.21%.^[6]

González Formoso has described himself as an admirer of the "old politics" of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) prime minister Felipe González and former PSdeG leader Francisco Vázquez Vázquez. He criticised Podemos founder Pablo Iglesias for questioning the motives of the architects of the Spanish transition to democracy, whom González Formoso considers to be "people who left their ideologies to one side in order to construct the common project of coexistence that we have today".^[4]

References

^ "El alcalde de las tres mayorías absolutas da el salto a la política autonómica" [The mayor with three absolute majorities makes the leap to autonomous politics]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 30 October 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^ "Valentín González Formoso mantiene el bastón de mando en As Pontes" [Valentín González Formoso keeps the ceremonial staff in As Pontes] (in Spanish). Ferrol 360. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^ Sampedro, D. (10 June 2015). "El alcalde de As Pontes será el nuevo presidente de la Diputación de A Coruña" [The mayor of As Pontes will be the new president of the Deputation of A Coruña]. La Voz de Galicia. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^ ^a ^b Jiménez, José Luis (8 December 2015). "Valentín González Formoso: "Me encanta la vieja política"" [Valentín González Formoso: "I love the old politics"]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^ Sampedro, Domingos (27 September 2021). "Valentín González Formoso da un paso adelante y se presentará para liderar el PSdeG" [Valentín González Formoso takes a step forwards and will present himself to lead the PSdeG]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^ Jiménez, José Luis (31 October 2021). "Valentín González Formoso derrota a Gonzalo Caballero y será el nuevo secretario general del PSdeG" [Valentín González Formoso defeats Gonzalo Caballero and will be the new secretary general of the PSdeG]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 February 2022.