Three weeks have passed since Ana Mata (PP) took office as mayoress of the ‘Villa de Mijas’. She did so on the 2nd of November in the plenary session where the no-confidence motion presented by her party together with Vox and Por Mi Pueblo was approved, a session after which she became the first woman mayor in the history of the municipality, thus initiating a new political stage which she assures us she is facing “with great enthusiasm”.  

Mijas Comunicación. How have these first days as mayoress been?

Ana Mata. They have been days in which we have not stopped making the necessary adjustments to the Mijas Town Hall, with unexpected events that we have faced with a quick response but always looking towards what has to be the future of Mijas.  

M.C. Your arrival is a historic event because you are the first mayoress of Mijas.

A.M. The truth is that I am pleased to be the first mayoress of Mijas but, without a doubt, what is important is that I will be the person capable of taking Mijas to the levels of quality that it deserves, making Mijas a reference not only at provincial, but also at regional, national and international level.

M.C. You became mayoress on the 2nd of November with a no-confidence motion presented by your party, the PP, on the 18th of October, with the support of Vox and Por Mi Pueblo. Why the no-confidence motion?

A.M. The feelings of the people of Mijas were expressed at the ballot box through the votes obtained by PP, Vox and Por Mi Pueblo. In that regard, when we started the mandate, we realised that the management of the Town Hall was not going to improve and, therefore, we had the responsibility to ensure the best levels of quality that both the municipality and the people of Mijas deserve. That is why we began to work to respond to what the citizens had voted for at the ballot boxes. That is the origin of this motion, which is due to the need for a change with regard to the previous stage, which had led Mijas to a politically disorganised situation and, above all, it is motivated by the need to make Mijas a prosperous town.

M.C. Your party nominates you as mayoress as number 6 on a list that the PP took to the municipal elections on May 28th last. This is something that has also generated several comments from the opposition.

A.M. Any of my colleagues could have been mayor or mayoress in this project; the important thing is not the number, but that we are a very solid team in which we all have the same interest, to give our all to ensure that Mijas is a reference, that the residents have their needs covered and that we can propose exciting projects to ensure that Mijas stands out in any field. 

M.C. The PP arrives at the Mijas Town Hall after eight years with Ana Mata as mayoress, which means that almost 90% of the province of Malaga has a mayor representing the Partido Popular. What does this data tell us? 

A.M. The citizens always choose the party that gives them results and, in this sense, they have chosen the PP to be the party that manages their interests. This is very important for us because the management model of the rest of the municipalities where the PP governs is also going to be implemented here in Mijas and this gives us the guarantee and security that we can create very positive alliances to improve the lives of our neighbours.  

M.C. Management that is backed by experience, because you have been in public life for more than 20 years in local, provincial and regional administration.

A.M. I have followed the normal path of any student, going through stages. My journey in politics has been working in a Town Hall, in Fuengirola, and also working for the province of Malaga as vice-president of the Provincial Council in charge of the social and people’s area, which ensured that all the social needs of the citizens of Malaga were covered. Then, I had the opportunity to be part of the first government for change in Andalusia. Working as secretary general for Families, this also being a new delegation that was implemented in the government of President Juanma Moreno. This has given me the opportunity to get to know the different administrations. 

M.C. Who are your references in politics?

A.M. I have many references but if I have to start with someone, from a very young age it was my grandfather. I always say that ideology does not have to be incompatible with respect and dialogue, my grandfather was a communist and since I was a child he has always been a person I have respected and listened to a lot. Then I had the opportunity to work with Esperanza Oña, a woman with very clear ideas, with a way of reacting quickly that has given very good results in Fuengirola. But my reference has also been Juanma Moreno, as president of Nuevas Generaciones, from whom I have learned a lot, as well as from Elías Bendodo. 

M.C. Following on from the previous question, who is your point of reference in life? 

A.M. My mother, a hard-working woman who, due to circumstances of life, had to raise two daughters on her own when my father passed away and run a business in a very complicated economic situation in which the PSOE was in the midst of corruption in Spain, when the economic crisis was raging. She faced widowhood with two teenagers so that we could study and get ahead in life. I think there are many women like her and they are invisible and we have to highlight them because thanks to them we are what we are today.

M.C. Mijas is a Town Hall that,   in recent years, has been dependent on pacts. In the last mandate PSOE and Cs governed and now we have a tripartite. What guarantees of stability does a government that is based on agreements give?

A.M. I have the example of the Andalusian Regional Government, where we have had agreements in the first legislature of the change and it is possible to reach this understanding between different ideologies. Mijas right now is an example of this. We are a very solid team that works for the wellbeing of the residents and when the councillors of the government team meet, ideologies do not stand out, but rather the fact that we have a common objective: to work so that Mijas is a reference municipality and that the people who want to live here can do so with peace of mind and with the best possible services.

M.C. Mijas incorporates Vox in the government team, an acronym that other formations relate to the extreme right. 

A.M. Vox is a party that complies with the Spanish Constitution and all the parameters of the legal system and the rule of law. Now it seems laughable that Vox should be labelled as extreme right-wing when we have a government that has made agreements with pro-independence supporters, with parties that represent the most hateful and painful past of Spain. 

M.C. Another support has been that of PMP, which in the first hundred days of government backed PSOE and Cs to give the mayor’s office to Josele González and, now, is governing together with PP and Vox. What guarantee is there that there will not be a change again?

A.M. I think that in the end pacts, like alliances, are with people. The agreement I have with Maldonado is a pact of loyalty to the municipality, to the residents, to work together for the people of Mijas. I am convinced that we will continue to work together. He is as involved as the rest of the councillors of the Partido Popular and Vox 

M.C. PSOE and Cs are in the opposition, what do you expect from the opposition in the Mijas Town Hall?

A.M. For me the opposition is very important, I think it has to do the job of supervision and propose issues that complement the proposals of the government team. Therefore, the opposition deserves my utmost respect and I hope that it will be constructive opposition that will lead us to all work together for the benefit of the people of Mijas, regardless of their ideology. I hope I can count on their support to move forward with major projects.

M.C. The abstention of the two Cs councillors, who were partners in government with the PSOE, was surprising. 

A.M. Faced with this abstention, I can say that, in a way, they represented with their vote what their voters wanted in the municipal elections. It is a party that is more to the centre than to the left and the direction that this country has taken in recent times with the investiture of the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez has made Cs also position itself as its voters want, in that centre range that characterises each and every Spaniard within the rule of law.

M.C. Do you also consider the possibility of Cs councillors joining the government team? 

A.M. Right now we are working, those of us who took the step for Mijas and, at the moment, our absolute priority is the daily work that each one of us has to develop in order to shape all the good things we want for our municipality.

M.C. We have recently learned about the distribution of delegations, which always generates a lot of interest. What was the criterion for the distribution of these areas?

A.M. Honestly, I think that the right people are in each of the delegations, who have also expressed interest in that area. I always talk to my team and ask them about their interests. You have to have motivated people in a working team. It was really an easy decision because we were all able to fit the delegations together to achieve the best for Mijas.

M.C. You are in charge of Equality and Diversity. Why did you make this decision?

A.M. I have always been in charge of Equality, my commitment to equality is personal; perhaps the fact that I started in a man’s world when I was very young meant that I had to work for equality. It seems obvious that, as article 14 states, we are equal in rights and obligations, but there are aspects of life that condition men and women and we have to continue working to ensure that equality becomes real equality.

M.C. What are the priority projects for Mijas?

A.M. One of the most important projects to be promoted is the Coastal Path, a project that was initiated by the Provincial Council but which was born here in Mijas, when Ángel Nozal was mayor. This is where this project was conceived, linking Nerja with Manilva. Therefore, Mijas had to complete the entire route and connect La Cala with Fuengirola. So, as soon as I arrived, I called the president of the Provincial Council, Francisco Salado, to take up this important project again. On the other hand, health infrastructures are fundamental. For years there has been a lot of talk about the hospital in Fuengirola and Mijas, and I believe that this issue had to be addressed, which was also brought to one of the plenary sessions of the Mijas Town Hall, in which it was unanimously approved to demand health facilities that would respond to the reality of the municipality. In this regard, we have held meetings with the delegate of the Andalusian Government with the commitment that in the Budgets for 2024 this health reference centre will be a reality in Mijas. Alliances are fundamental and, for example, in the area of education, we are going to have the largest educational centre with the greatest investment in the history of Mijas; therefore, it is important that the administrations, each within their own powers, fulfil their responsibilities. That is why we have also unblocked the transfer of the land so that the extension of the school in La Cala can become a reality. Without a doubt, we are going to continue to ask each of the administrations for what corresponds to them, the installation of acoustic screens throughout the municipality through which the motorway passes and even the liberalisation of the motorway. These are issues in which we will have to fight and it doesn’t matter which administration or political colour is governing; we have the commitment to demand what is right for the people of Mijas

M.C. As a ‘Mijeña’ and mayoress, what does Ana Mata want to contribute to Mijas?

A.M. When I was a child I saw that Mijas was a magnificent municipality, but perhaps I was not aware of how important it is that a municipality also stands out in something that gives prestige to its residents. That is why I would like to be remembered as the first woman who carried out orderly and transparent management within the Mijas Town Hall and, above all, that it is a Local Council and a municipality that stands out in terms of infrastructure and public works and that it is attractive for the people who live there and for those who visit it.

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