Andrea Levy (politician)

Andrea Levy in 2015

Andrea Levy Soler (born 3 May 1984)[1] is a Spanish People's Party (PP) politician. She served in the Parliament of Catalonia from 2015 to 2019, and on the City Council of Madrid from 2019.

Early and personal life

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Levy was born in Barcelona. She is of Jewish descent through her father, though she was not raised in the Jewish culture or religion.[2] She said of her surname "there are only more Cohens than Levys [in Judaism]. But [my family] are not practicing Jews".[3]

An only child from a middle-class family, Levy was schooled at the Lycée Français de Barcelone and did a semester at Saint Martin's School of Art in London; she said she was inspired to join the latter institution by a reference to it in the Pulp song "Common People". She then studied at the International School of Protocol in Barcelona, and obtained a law degree from the University of Barcelona.[1] She did an internship in the Ministry of Agriculture in the Generalitat de Catalunya under Socialist administration, and then joined the People's Party.[4]

In September 2019, Levy was the first serving politician to appear on Telecinco's game show Pasapalabra.[5] After her sobriety had been put into doubt after slurring her words in several speeches,[6] she publicly announced in February 2021 that she has fibromyalgia in order to counter these accusations.[7]

Political career

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In 2011, Levy became the Vice Secretary of Communications for the New Generations of the People's Party in Catalonia and Vice Secretary of International Relations on a national basis for the group.[8] The following year, People's Party of Catalonia president Alicia Sánchez-Camacho brought her into the party's parliamentary group as Vice Secretary of Studies and Programmes.[4]

Levy (second from right) and mayor of Madrid José Luis Martínez-Almeida (second from left) in October 2019

The first election Levy ran in was the 2014 European Parliament election in Spain, being 39th on the PP's list.[9] She was number two in the PP's list in Barcelona behind Xavier García Albiol in the 2015 Catalan regional election.[10] In June 2015, PP leader and prime minister Mariano Rajoy named her Vice Secretary of Studies and Programmes; Pablo Casado, also in his early 30s, was brought in too.[11] A year later, she was one of the negotiators between the PP and Citizens, who formed a coalition government after the June 2016 elections.[12]

In 2018, Levy endorsed Casado as the PP's new leader after Rajoy was voted out of office.[13] Sixth on the PP's list in the Madrid constituency, she was elected to the Congress of Deputies in the April 2019 Spanish general election, but relinquished her seat to María del Mar Blanco to instead run for the City Council of Madrid.[14]

In the May 2019 elections, Levy was elected to the council in Spain's capital city as second on the PP's list behind incoming mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida.[15] She was made the councillor in charge of culture, sport and tourism.[16] In July 2021, during her time in office, the city was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b Ruiz Valdivia, Antonio (18 June 2015). "15 cosas que no sabías de Andrea Levy" [15 things you did not know about Andrea Levy]. HuffPost (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  2. ^ Sánchez Juárez, Ana (23 September 2015). "Los vips españoles que celebran la fiesta judía de Yom Kippur" [The Spanish VIPs who are celebrating the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  3. ^ Cuesta, Irma (4 April 2016). "Andrea Levy: «Me he vuelto adicta al trabajo»" [Andrea Levy: "I've ended up addicted to working"]. El Norte de Castilla (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b Espanyol, Montse (19 May 2012). "Andrea Levy: «Hubo dos indignados: los de los smartphones y los que votaron al PP»" [Andrea Levy: "There were two types of indignados: those on their smartphones and those who voted PP"]. La Razón (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  5. ^ "El debut de Andrea Levy en Pasapalabra" [Andrea Levy's debut on Pasapalabra]. El Mundo (in Spanish). 10 September 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  6. ^ "El atropellado y viral discurso de Andrea Levy: "Fuerzas y 'cuerpas' de seguridad"" [Andrea Levy's hurried and viral speech: "Security forces and 'badies'"]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  7. ^ Cantera, S. (25 February 2021). "Andrea Levy anuncia que sufre fibromialgia después de recibir burlas por trabarse en un discurso" [Andrea Levy announces that she suffers from fibromyalgia after being mocked for slurring in a speech]. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  8. ^ Salmón, Álex (18 June 2015). "Andrea Levy, una apuesta por el criterio propio" [Andrea Levy, a bet on her own criteria]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  9. ^ "El PPC incluye Andrea Levy Soler en la lista para las europeas" [PPC includes Andrea Levy Soler in list for the European elections] (in Spanish). E-Noticies. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  10. ^ Robles, Gemma; Julve, Rafa (28 July 2015). "Albiol será el cabeza de lista del PP catalán para el 27-S" [Albiol will lead the Catalan PP's list for the 27 September election]. El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Pablo Casado, Javier Maroto, Andrea Levy y Maíllo, nuevos vicesecretarios del PP" (in Spanish). Europa Press. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Los negociadores de PP y Ciudadanos y los temas que tratarán" [The PP and Citizens' negotiators and what they will discuss] (in Spanish). Europa Press. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Andrea Levy manifiesta su apoyo a la candidatura de Casado por su "trabajo duro"" [Andrea Levy manifests her support to Casado's candidacy for his "hard work"]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). 1 July 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Carambola en el PP: Levy y Lacalle dejan paso a Marimar Blanco y Echániz" [Chain reaction in the PP: Levy and Lacalle give way to Marimar Blanco and Echániz] (in Spanish). EFE. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  15. ^ Villanueva, Marc (27 May 2019). "Madrid recibe así a Andrea Levy, catalana y nº 2 de la alcaldía: "Qué payasa"" [Madrid welcomes Andrea Levy, Catalan and #2 for mayor like this: "What a clown"]. El Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  16. ^ Lantigua, Isabel F.; Bécares, Roberto (16 June 2019). "Andrea Levy será la concejala de Cultura, Deporte y Turismo" [Andrea Levy will be the councillor in charge of culture, sport and tourism]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  17. ^ Vaquero, María (25 July 2021). "¿Qué significa para Madrid el nuevo título de Patrimonio Mundial?" [What does the new title of World Heritage mean for Madrid?]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 March 2022.
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