At Casa David, the family bar founded by his great-grandparents in the post-war period in Portbou and now run by his parents, Gael RodrÃguez has imbibed the virtues he considers basic and essential to be a good mayor: listening and serving.
“Being a waiter is not just bringing a coffee to the table, sometimes we are also psychologists, other times comedians; there I have really learned to know how to listen and to serve, qualities that anyone who wants to run for public office must haveâ€, explains a plethoric Gael, who at 19 years old will become the youngest mayor in Spain on June 17 and assures that also from Europe.
It is enough to see him in action in the business, where at only 10 years old he already helped his grandmother in the kitchen, to realize the connection he has with the clientele, both with regulars and interns who in this border and railway town are enough.
Gael has broken several barriers in these elections as he is a first-timer in many aspects: it was the first time he could vote, the first also that he headed a candidacy, that of Sumem per Portbou, linked to the PSC, a party in which he has been a member since November 2020 , and against all odds he became the youngest winner of these municipal ones.
His candidacy, which he began to forge a year and a half ago – when he was still a minor – obtained six councilors, for three on the list of Ara Portbou (Junts), which he repeated with the current mayor Xavier Barranco. He will govern like this with an absolute majority.
“It was a surprise for meâ€, explains this law student at the UOC, a modality that gives him the freedom to help in the family business when his parents need him and, now, to act as mayor of a town of just over 1,000 inhabitants.
He is not the only one in his family who has made inroads into politics, but he is the one who has reached higher. He explains that in 1991 his father showed up “with a list of friends”; His grandfather did it for Entesa dels Portobuencs in the first democratic elections and was about to enter the plenary session and his great-grandfather, who was a sergeant of the Republican police, was a socialist militant in hiding. “At home there has always been a politicized environment,†he explains.
His youth, which at first he believed would be “a handicap”, has become an ally. He says that he has the energy of forty and, although he has a lot to learn from day-to-day management, he is convinced that with his team and the advice that I have already begun to receive from other politicians who are ahead of him, his landing in the administration it will be more pleasant for you.
The historic Pere Moradell, mayor of Torroella de Fluvià for 44 years, also from the PSC, was one of the first to congratulate him and make himself available. His advice, from veteran to first-timer: “Humility, generosity and determination”
