Xavier Amor, who was mayor of Pineda de Mar for 17 years, is the new chief of staff for Salvador Illa. He arrives after serving since 2024 as the secretary of Local Governments and Relations with Aran.
The new chief of staff for Salvador Illa also comes from the local world. According to the newspaper Ara, Xavier Amor (born in 1975 in Pineda de Mar) was mayor of this town in Maresme for 17 consecutive years, from 2007 to 2024, after three terms of mayors from CiU.
Before arriving at the Generalitat, he presided over the Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia from 2013 to 2019. Since the summer of 2024, he held the position of secretary of Local Governments and Relations with Aran, the same position from which his predecessor, Eduard Rivas, came to the chief of staff role.
Although he has known Illa for years, their relationship has particularly strengthened in his last position, where he earned the president's trust. Sources familiar with the situation state that Amor had contact with almost all the mayors of Catalonia and acted as a bridge between municipal power and the Govern.
“This is where he has been seen working”
Those who have worked with him or have been his political rivals describe him as a sociable person who is easy to approach. In Pineda de Mar, they recall that he did not promote significant changes, although he compensated for this lack of reforms with very careful personal attention.
“expansive, talkative and approachable”
However, some voices interpret the appointment primarily in electoral terms, as the municipal elections approach. These same sources emphasize that a chief of staff needs skills that go beyond being a good mayor with good connections in the local world and within the party's grassroots.
“It is very important to understand parliamentary logics, national politics, and the media”
The father of the new chief of staff, Justo Amor, ran as an independent on the PSUC lists and was a union delegate at the textile factory owned by Pere Aragonès, former president of the Generalitat. Aragonès was also the leader of the opposition to Xavier Amor when he was mayor of Pineda de Mar, although both maintain, according to the same sources, a good relationship.
Xavier Amor did not work in that factory. The PSC website mentions his main professional experience outside of politics as being the sales manager at the furniture and sofa store Tresiconfort. When consulted by the newspaper, the company stated that it currently has only one employee and that it previously belonged to the family of the former mayor.
“left a very good mark”
For the residents of Pineda de Mar, the appointment means that their former mayor becomes part of the president of the Generalitat's inner circle, with an office in the Govern.
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