Profiles
Juan Vicente Herrera Campo, President of Castilla y León
By h.b. - Nov 22, 2007 - 12:17 PM
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Juan Vicente Herrera Campo first became President of the largest of Spain’s autonomous communities, Castilla y León, in March 2001, and was elected for two successive mandates, both with absolute majorities, in the 2003 and 2007 regional polls, continuing with two decades of government of the region by the Partido Popular.
He was born in Burgos on 23rd January 1956, qualified in law, and practiced as a lawyer in Madrid and Burgos from 1987 until June 1992, when he was appointed General Secretary of the regional government’s tax and economy department. He remained in the position until March 1995.
Herrera was, by this time, Provincial President for the Partido Popular in Burgos province (from November 1993).
He was elected as a member of the regional parliament of Castilla y León (las Cortes) for the first time in 1995, when he successfully stood as Partido Popular candidate for his province, and served as spokesperson for the Partido Popular parliamentary grouping until February 2001.
The Prime Minister of the time, José María Aznar, named the man who had been PP President of Castilla y León since 1991, Juan José Lucas Jiménez, to serve on his Cabinet as Minister for Presidency in February 2001. The Cortes chose Juan Vicente Herrera Campo as his replacement as Regional President until the next regional election which was due to take place in 2003.
Herrera was invested as President of the Junta de Castilla y León in March 2001, and three months later, was named as the PP Regional Secretary: he became Regional President of the party the following year.
The Partido Popular chose him as their candidate for presidency of the region for the 2003 regional poll, which saw the voters of Castilla y León returning the Partido Popular for its fourth successive absolute majority with 48 seats in the Cortes. It gave them a majority of 17 seats over the main opposition party, PSOE.
Herrera repeated the success four years later, holding on to the same number of seats, although the party’s majority over PSOE dropped by two.
The latest reform of Castilla y León’s Statute of Autonomy was approved during Herrera’s second elected mandate as Regional President, with a vote in the Senate – the upper chamber of the Spanish parliament – approving the revised text on 21st November 2007 with 250 votes in favour. There were just two abstentions and no votes against.
Juan Vicente Herrera Campo is said to have a passion for the Camino de Santiago – The Way of St James – and likes to spend part of his annual holiday covering part of the pilgrimage route on foot.