José Ribau Esteves - Mayor of Aveiro

"WE KNOW AVEIRO AS THE VENICE OF PORTUGAL, BUT NOW VENICE IS KNOWN AS THE AVEIRO OF ITALY"

He has been Mayor of Aveiro for over ten years and is now serving his final term. From his tenure, José Ribau Esteves takes with him a journey of complete municipal restructuring and the certainty that Aveiro is today, more than ever, a must-see destination to discover and rediscover. Looking to the future, he is eager to embrace new challenges.

Born in Luanda, you arrived in Portugal in 1974, a landmark year in the country's history. Tell us a little about this event in your life.

I'm Portuguese, born in Angola; I don't have dual nationality. I was simply born in a territory that was formerly called an overseas territory. As I often say, my life is full of lands. I was born in Luanda, my mother is from Ílhavo and my father is from Sabugal, and I'm the Mayor of Aveiro... We are from the land where life, by chance, places us.

He has a degree in Animal Science, which isn't a common field of study for politicians. How did you develop a calling to govern?

Animal science came into my life unexpectedly, but it's always been a field that interested me. I worked for eight years at a large American multinational animal feed company, but then politics took me away from that career. My mother, who was mayor since the first election and served as mayor for 11 years, brought me into politics. Most meetings were held at night; I was the oldest of five siblings, so the oldest boy often accompanied Mom. In this environment, I developed a taste for it and developed an interest. Shortly after becoming an activist, at 18, I founded the JSD (Social Workers' Party), and from there, things just kept happening.

But do you still enjoy biology in your everyday life?

These days, the word biology is rarely used. Today, it's about the environment, nature, and obviously, I can't imagine urban management in a municipality as environmentally complex as Aveiro without it. I can't imagine addressing human well-being and urban development without harmonizing it with natural values.

You've been Mayor of Aveiro for over ten years. Now that you're in your final term, what are you most proud of?

Essentially, the task in Aveiro was to take on a corrupt council, with excessive debt, and put it in order. I usually say that, of those 12 years, the first four were spent bringing order to the council, restructuring it financially and organizationally. Then came two extremely difficult years, the years of the pandemic. And, therefore, in full operational condition, it was only six. But time allowed us to undertake this institutional recovery and bring the council to today's very high levels of investment.

"I WOULD LOVE TO REMAIN IN POLITICAL POSITIONS"

TEXT BY ANA MONTEIRO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANA NOGUEIRA