The mayor of San Roque and national deputy of the PSOE, Juan Carlos Ruiz Boixhas reappeared publicly in the Interview of the Week 8 Directly after several months focused exclusively on the recovery of his daughter Irene, who suffered a serious accident last December. In the conversation he addressed his personal situation, the treaty on Gibraltar, the Government’s investments in the region and the political climate in the face of the upcoming Andalusian elections, with direct criticism of the mayor of La Línea, Juan Franco, and his party, 100×100.
Personal situation: “My priority is my daughter”
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Ruiz Boix explained that his return to political activity is being gradual because his priority continues to be his family and especially his daughter. “Irene is in a recovery phase… they are already more than 70 days since the accident and we have a new surgery pending. It is improving, at a slow pace, but we have already passed the most complex situation”, he stated.
The mayor acknowledged that his personal situation has affected his pace of political work. “Your head does not work well for normal tasksbut little by little I have been resuming some activities,” he said, also highlighting the support of his municipal team, the socialist parliamentary group and the provincial PSOE during his absence.
Despite his progressive return to public life, Ruiz Boix made it clear that his priority continues to be his family. “My first job is being a fatherand at this moment my daughter is the one who needs me the most,” he concluded, while ensuring that he will continue to gradually resume his responsibilities as mayor, deputy and socialist leader.
“A historic agreement” on Gibraltar
One of the main topics of the interview was treaty reached between the United Kingdom and the European Union on Gibraltar after Brexit. Ruiz Boix, who also chairs the Foreign Affairs Commission of Congress, described it as “historic” and “positive.”
“I think it is a historic agreement “which will improve family, work and economic relations between Gibraltar and Campo de Gibraltar,” he explained. For the socialist leader, the most symbolic element is the disappearance of the Gate. “The President of the Government dreamed of dismantling the Fencesomething that not even many residents of Campo de Gibraltar had imagined,” he stated.
In his opinion, the elimination of this barrier will make it possible to promote a “zone of shared prosperity” with greater mobility of workers and new economic opportunities for the region. He also highlighted the fiscal and regulatory convergences of the agreement, in addition to applying European standards on environmental matters.
Asked about the situation of workers and pensionsone of the aspects that continue to worry the more than 15,000 cross-border workers, the socialist deputy pointed out among the “outstanding benefits” of the treaty the “equality in labor matters and in pensions” although he pointed out that there will have to be transition periods to achieve these processes.
On criticism from other partiespointed out that neither the PP nor even Vox have said that they are going to vote against the treaty. “In the European Parliament there is a large majority of the right with the extreme right and we will have to see what the European People’s Party, which criticizes the agreement so much, is going to vote for, because I assure you that they are going to vote in favor,” he said. In addition, he recalled that the text has a clause that, in four years, allows Spain to withdraw it. “If the right and the extreme right finally govern in Spain, let’s see if they dare to overthrow this good agreement,” added the PSOE representative.
State investments in the region
Beyond the possible complaints, politicians, businessmen, associations and citizens point out that to take advantage of the agreement on Gibraltar and be able to reach that area of prosperity, investments are needed, for example, in training and infrastructure. Regarding this, Ruiz Boix defended that the central government is already promoting important investments in the Campo de Gibraltar and recalled the Comprehensive Plan approved in 2018.
“This plan involves almost one billion euros of investmentwith actions in infrastructure, security and economic development,” he assured. The San Roque mayor gave as an example the progress in the Algeciras-Bobadilla railway corridor, where he stated that the current Executive has invested more than 400 million euros, in contrast to the years of the PP government.
He also mentioned the demanded improvement of the A-7 highway and the road to Tarifa. “Two informative studies are currently being developed. The first covers the section between Algeciras and Los Barrios, where work is being done not only on the construction of a third lane, but also on a ring road of about 10 kilometers with several actions announced by Minister Óscar Puente in Algeciras. The second focuses on the section between Los Barrios and San Roque, where the creation of a third lane and improvements in conflictive points of the national network, such as the El Toril area, are planned,” he said. Regarding the other road that needs investment, the N-340 from Algeciras to Tarifa, he acknowledged that “action is still pending” and pointed out the problem posed by the “two natural parks.”
Criticisms of Juan Franco and 100×100
Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix showed himself very critical of political adversariesespecially with the mayor of La Línea, Juan Franco, for the criticism of the treaty on Gibraltar and for his 100×100 Unidos project with which he will participate in the Andalusian elections. “When faced with any question, whatever it may be, Juan Franco cries and with the agreement he has seen an opportunity to continue crying and criticizing the Government while we see how more than 10 million euros a year of Provincial Council funds are drained from towns with less than 20,000 inhabitants,” he criticized.
Ruiz Boix also questioned his municipal management and urged him to focus on the problems of his city. “He has homework in La Línea. “Let him take care of the food market, where he has expelled more than 80 small businessmen after decades working there,” said the mayor of San Roque, who added: “I do not hear him raise his voice to defend La Línea against the Junta de Andalucía on the issue of the Leisure Time Residence that they have privatized, on the Higuerón highway or in other breaches of the agreement with the Popular Party.”
Furthermore, he charged against 100×100 provincial match led by the mayor of La Línea. “They said that it was an exclusive party of La Línea, that they did not want advisors, that they were going to be there for eight years… all the rules that they approved eight years ago have been dismantled,” declared the socialist, who denounced that the candidate for the Andalusian elections of the 100×100 brand has been hand-picked because “there has been neither an assembly nor ballot boxes,” and that “they added mayors to the experiments, some of them condemned, like that of Chipiona.”
Andalusian elections
With his sights set on the upcoming regional elections, Ruiz Boix also criticized the management of the Andalusian government of Juan Manuel Moreno. In his opinion, after more than seven years of PP government, services such as health, education and dependency have worsened in the community.
“Public health in this region is worsehe stated. The socialist leader also denounced delays of up to two years in the resolution of dependency aid and criticized the increase in private universities in Andalusia.
He trusted that his party, the PSOE, would return to “the flawed polls that seek to demobilize the left” and was convinced that “María Jesús Montero is going to win the Andalusian elections.”
