Ten minutes after the event started, attended by Juan Marín, vice president of Andalusia, this Monday morning in Madrid, the surprise has arrived. The former leader of Ciudadanos, Albert Rivera, has unexpectedly taken a seat among the public to tuck in “his friend”, who at that time was taking part in the Foro Turismo event organized by the Europa Press agency. The president of the party, Inés Arrimadas, could not avoid her astonishment as she turned her head and ran into her former boss, with whom she had not been in public for months. Neither Marín nor Arrimadas had been notified that Rivera was going to attend the event. “It was a very good surprise for both of us. I hadn’t seen him since before the summer, so very well ”, said the Cs leader after the meeting.
The first to notice Rivera’s presence was the deputy mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís, who shared the first row of seats with Arrimadas, each sitting at one end. At that time, Marín interrupted his speech on the stage to say “good morning” to the former leader of the Liberal Party, followed by a shy laugh. It was then that Arrimadas has turned his head up to three times, to finally certify that it was Rivera, whom he waved. His irruption in the act has a special meaning, since the former president of Ciudadanos has reiterated his intention to stay out of politics since he left the party and did not even attend the national convention that Cs held in mid-July. “Beyond the initials of the parties, of the party conventions, I am out of full-blown politics,” Rivera reiterated after Marín’s presentation. Current executive president of the law firm Martínez-Echevarría & Rivera Abogados, the former leader of Ciudadanos usually attends only academic events and has explained that his attendance was due to the fact that it was “a presentation of a relevant person in a strategic sector” —the tourism sector. – that interests him, “besides being a good friend: double reason for coming”.
Executive sources admit that everyone has been taken by surprise, but they have pointed out that Rivera’s visit is basically due to his “friendship relationship” with Marín and nothing else. The vice-president of Andalusia and the leader of Citizens in the community has attended the forum to take his chest out of his management in the autonomous community, where he governs in coalition with the popular Juanma Moreno. “It has been a great joy,” commented Marín with Arrimadas after greeting Rivera. “A great friend surprised me today in Madrid. Thank you Albert Rivera for joining me ”, later added the vice president of Andalusia on the social network Twitter.
At the end of the presentations at the forum, held at the Eurostars Madrid hotel, Rivera gave Marín a warm hug and greeted Arrimadas with two kisses. The three have had a brief informal conversation afterwards. Hours later, Arrimadas was asked again about the meeting at the party headquarters, after the meeting of the Permanent Committee of the liberal formation. “He [Albert Rivera] he knows that he is always welcome to all the Citizens’ events and to the breakfasts, like the one today ”, he said.
Shortly after the event organized by Europa Press, se have released the data from the quarterly barometer of the Andalusian Studies Center (Centra). Ciudadanos would maintain its own parliamentary group, with 8.3% of the votes (four tenths less than the previous poll) and seven seats. In 2018, it obtained 18.3% and 21 seats. Arrimadas has also expressed this Monday his intention to maintain the government agreement with the popular if their seats add up after the next regional elections, as confirmed by the results of the Centra. Marín is the second highest-rated politician, with 5.44, according to the poll, after Moreno.