Ricard Pérez Casado
Encyclopedia
Ricard Pérez Casado is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, 27 October 1945) is a Spanish politician and former mayor of Valencia who belongs to the governing Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
(PSOE).
Married with one son, Pérez studied Economic Science at Barcelona University and graduated in Political and Social Science at Madrid University before gaining a doctorate in history from Valencia University. During the Franco era he become involved in the Valencian Socialist Party (PSV) which later became linked to the PSOE. In 1979 he became Mayor of Valencia, replacing Ferran Martínez Castellano who was expelled from the party after a dispute over abandoning the party's residual Marxism. Pérez was re-elected in 1983 and 1987, however he resigned in 1988 after disagreements with the local branch of the party.
In 1996 he served as European Union administrator for the Bosnian city of Mostar
Mostar
Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...
. He entered national politics in 2000 when he was elected to the national parliament as a deputy for Valencia
Valencia (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Valencia is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies—the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is the third largest district in Congress in terms of the numbers of deputies elected, as it elects sixteen deputies out of the total...
but not stand in 2004. He has also served as vice-president of the European Council of Municipalities and Regions and currently serves on the Federal Committee of the PSOE.