National
Joan Mesquida moved as the head of the Police
By h.b.
Apr 15, 2008 - 8:28 AM

The Socialist politician from Mallorca, Joan Mesquida Ferrando, is to be moved from his current position of head of both the National Police and Guardia Civil, to take up the post of Secretary of State for tourism, according to Government sources.

The 45 year old has been head of the Police and Guardia Civil for a year and a half in what was the first joint mandate across the two forces. His time there was marked by the largest wage increase ever seen in police wages, and his main activity with the Guardia Civil was to control immigration.

He has previous experience in tourism, having been the Councillor for Hacienda on the Balearic Islands, a region which welcomes 11 million tourists a year. His new appointment was welcomed by Francesc Buils on Mallorca, the current tourism councillor on the islands. He said that it would be good for them to have ‘a professional in Madrid who knows the problems of the Balearics well’.