“There is a driving force more powerful than steam, electricity and atomic energy, the will.” Physicist Albert Einstein, one of the referents of the Minister of Finance of the Junta de Andalucía, and today the economic guru of the new team of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, at the head of the national leadership of the Popular Party, expressed himself with this apothegm.
Entrepreneur, tireless and always enthusiastic with each of the tasks he undertakes, Juan Bravo, Mallorcan by birth, and Valencian student, before reaching politics he turned to sports. Specifically in futsal.
Jaen
First division goalkeeper in Jaén’s Paraíso Interior , Bravo Baena learned that, as a goalkeeper, if you miss, it’s usually a goal. And in politics, if you fail, if you have the wrong attitude, “it doesn’t just affect me, it affects the PP. That’s why I say that -he confessed in an interview-, when Simeone says that football is the school of life, as one trains, lives, and as one plays, lives”.
Passionate about the wisdom of the best thinkers, including entrepreneurs of the stature of Henry Ford, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, or Steve Jobs (he admires the speech that the creator of Apple made at the US Stanford University, where he appealed to nonconformity) , at the end of his law studies, Juan Bravo Baena changed the laws for the Jaén goal as a futsal professional. That yes, before he played the sub-23 and was third representing Valencia.
Things of destiny, and already in the Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Jaén, Guard and Defense of the Kingdoms of Castile , a title held by this Andalusian capital, the wife of the still footballer embarks on the competitive examinations of tax agent. But, what was her regret for not understanding the technical language of this test, so Juan Bravo decides to accompany her to study with her at the same time, and for a few months lend her a hand in the explanations of the cumbersome syllabus.
The PP leader approves of this opposition. Combining studies with soccer and a son already in the family, Bravo continues with the books and later obtains the opposition of Treasury technician, and years later, that of Treasury inspector. He remembers those years of effort, working in the mornings, studying in the afternoons and on weekends, and also caring for a son. The constant and unconditional support of his wife is and has been essential in his career.
Ceuta and the cinema
He pointed ways. He soon started as an inspector of the Treasury in Córdoba. And when he was four years old he left for Ceuta. They appoint him a delegate of the Tax Agency of a city that he shows that he loves . They were good years and he has very good memories. Of the place and the people of it.
At the 2015 edition of the Goya Film Awards, Edmon Roch , the producer of El Niño (by Daniel Monzón) , talks about Juan Bravo in his speech. Distinguished for the Best Production Direction, Roch mentions the name of the delegate of the Ceuta Tax Agency and thanks him for having been one of the “guardian angels” who made it possible for the renowned film to arrive, after a long journey of economic problems and licenses, to the movies.
Apparently Bravo facilitated permits, streamlined procedures, and in his own way made it possible for the story of a child in a world of drug traffickers to see the light on the big screen. Bravo does not forget those four days of work, surrounded by the atmosphere of the seventh art with customs surveillance as a backdrop.
Not in vain, the border with Morocco and the Polígono -one of the youngest neighborhoods in Ceuta- were special in their work in an area of Spain, where in his opinion regulation and security are vital, and improving the conditions of places like the Tarajal.
jump into politics
In January 2016, the Treasury inspector and official makes a leap into politics . With the acronym of the PP, he wins his seat for Ceuta in the Congress of Deputies, and does so with 53% of the mackerel votes -a name from Ceuta-, double that of his opponent in the Socialist Party.
From the Spanish city located in North Africa, and already as a national deputy in Madrid, on February 11, 2019, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla recruited him for the Government of the Junta as Minister of Finance .
Bravo has achieved three consecutive budgets, something unprecedented in these times
In these years, Bravo has managed to approve three consecutive budgets -something unprecedented in current political times-. Applying his maxim of reducing unproductive expenses, he has taught to turn off the light in official buildings when there is no one in the offices, and has replaced bottles of mineral water with running tap water.
Of positive psychology like Víctor Küppers , motivated by work, practitioner of dialogue, persistent with transparency and, having drawn from the sources of Professor Barea -a member of Aznar’s Budget Office-, of Marc Vidal, Manuel Pizarro and Cristóbal Montoro , Bravo reproves a Pedro Sánchez who, in his opinion, believes that the taxpayers are his slaves, and they have to pay yes or yes, while he thinks that the expense, which is a deficit, will already be paid by someone.
“If Sánchez reduces public spending – he sends this message – there is room to pay pensions: 60,000 million as the IEE says, or 40,000 or 30,000 million, but there is room to pay pensions.”
Without an office in the Board – he works in a room with the rest of his team – today, Juan Bravo is the economic authority of the Popular Party. Of course, this Friday, at seven in the morning, he will sit in front of the computer to receive his English class.