1. Adolfo Canepa has dedicated most of his life to politics and the development of Gibraltar, having served both as Leader of the Opposition and as Chief Minister of Gibraltar from 8 December 1987 to 25 March 1988.
16 Facts About Adolfo Canepa
1. 2.
Adolfo Canepa is a former Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament.
3.
Adolfo Canepa was born in London during a period of World War II when most of Gibraltar's civilian population had been evacuated.
4.
Adolfo Canepa later left teaching, at considerable sacrifice for his wife Julie and young family at the time, to pursue a career in politics.
5.
Adolfo Canepa was a leading member of the Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights.
6.
Adolfo Canepa was a candidate for election for the first time in the 1972 elections, winning a seat and thus becoming Minister for Labour and Social Security.
7.
Adolfo Canepa later served in government as Minister for Economic Development and Trade, a ministry he held until he succeeded Hassan as Chief Minister.
8.
Adolfo Canepa was perhaps Hassan's closest political colleague and became his right-hand man at meetings in London with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the Dockyard Agreement and accompanied him as his Deputy to meetings leading up to the Brussels Agreement in the early eighties.
9.
Adolfo Canepa succeeded Alfred Vasquez as Mayor of Gibraltar between 1976 and 1978.
10.
However, Adolfo Canepa lost the 1988 elections to Joe Bossano of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party, with Adolfo Canepa obtaining 4,422 votes, while Bossano polled 8,128 votes.
11.
Adolfo Canepa then become Leader of the Opposition until he announced his resignation just prior to the 1992 election.
12.
Adolfo Canepa announced his resignation as leader of the AACR and his retirement from politics altogether.
13.
Adolfo Canepa served in Peter Caruana's Committee on Foreign Affairs, supporting the Chief Minister in the lobbying campaign and subsequent referendum which led to the derailing of the joint sovereignty proposals in 2002, and later in the Constitutional Reform Group which led to Gibraltar's current constitution.
14.
In October 2012, Adolfo Canepa was appointed the Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament and was the speaker up until 2019 General election.
15.
On 10 December 2007 Adolfo Canepa was presented with the Gibraltar Award on behalf of the founding fathers of the AACR.
16.
In 2009, Adolfo Canepa was one of the four recipients of the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour and was therefore recorded in the Gibraltar Roll of Honour.