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The Most Excellent Mariano Rajoy
Prime Minister of Spain
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 December 2011
Monarch	Juan Carlos I
Deputy	Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría
Preceded by	José Luis Zapatero
Personal details
Born	Mariano Rajoy Brey (1955-03-27) 27 March 1955 (age 57) Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Political party	People's Party (1989–present)
Spouse(s)	Elvira Fernández Balboa (1996–present) 2 children
Residence	Palacio de la Moncloa
Alma mater	University of Santiago de Compostela
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature
Website	Party website

Mariano Rajoy Brey (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾjano raˈxoi]; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish People's Party politician and the current Prime Minister of Spain, having served since 21 December 2011.

Under Prime Minister José María Aznar, Rajoy was Minister of Public Administration from 1996 to 1999 and Minister of Education from 1999 to 2000; he then served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2000 to 2003. Rajoy led the People's Party into the March 2004 general election, but that election was won by the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the aftermath of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Subsequently Rajoy was Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2011.

Early life and education[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Born 27 March 1955 in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. Rajoy is the grandson of Enrique Rajoy Leloup, one of the drafters of the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia in 1932, who was removed from university teaching by the dictatorship to the early 1950s. He is the son of Mariano Rajoy Sobredo jurist, president of the Provincial Court Pontevedra, the city where he grew up.

Later on his father, a judge, was transferred to Leon and the whole family moved there. Rajoy went to a school that was later also attended by Jose Luis Zapatero.

He was duly enrolled, together with his brothers Luis and Enrique, in a Jesuit school of that city, and spent ten years there before moving to the Jesuit school in Vigo. After finishing secondary school he started university, enrolling in the Law Faculty in Santiago de Compostela.

Rajoy graduated from the University of Santiago de Compostela and passed the competitive examination required in Spain to enter into the civil service, becoming the youngest ever property registrar aged 23.

He was assigned to Padrón (La Coruña), in Villafranca del Bierzo (León) and Santa Pola (Alicante) a position he still holds. At the same age, Rajoy was injured in the face following a traffic accident. Since then, he has always worn a beard to hide the scars of these injuries.

Mariano married on 28 December 1996 in La Toja Island (Pontevedra) to Elvira Fernández Balboa, known as Viri. The couple have two children.

While on the campaign trail in 2011, Mr. Rajoy published an autobiography, In Confidence, in which he recalled his studious and quiet youth, following a father who was climbing the ranks of Francisco Franco’s judiciary. He talks of a happy childhood, son of a judge, and how he used Vim and Ajax to clean the barracks during his military service in Valencia.

He stated that he married his wife Viri "for the rest of his life" and described how he was affected by the death of his mother when she was 61, as well as the large influence his father had on his life. Rajoy told his readers that he entered politics not against his own will, but against that of his father. He admitted he has thought about abandoning politics during the hard times, but that he stayed "because of personal responsibility and to keep the party united". He says he will donate the book sales to charity and the needy.

Legislative career[link]

Early political career[link]

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Rajoy started his political career in 1981, as a member of the right-wing party People's Alliance (AP), becoming a deputy in the inaugural legislature of the Galician Parliament. In 1982, he was appointed by Galician regional President, Antonio Rosón Pérez, as Minister of Institutional Relations of the Xunta de Galicia. On 11 June 1986, Rajoy was elected President of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra, a position he held until July 1991.

In the General Elections of 22 June 1986, he obtained a seat in the Congress of Deputies as the head of the AP's list for Pontevedra, although he resigned in November to take up the post of vice-president of the Xunta of Galicia following the resignation of Xosé Luis Barreiro and the rest of the ministers. He occupied this latter position until the end of September 1987. In May 1988 he was elected General Secretary of the PA in Galicia during an extraordinary congress of the regional party.

When in 1989 the AP merged with other parties to form the People's Party (PP), with Manuel Fraga as its president, Rajoy was named a member of its National Executive Committee and delegate for Pontevedra. He was reelected to parliament in 1993. Before the PP's triumph in the 1996 elections, he was a PP-designated member of the "Commission of Parliamentary Control of the RTVE".

In April, former president of Castile and León and presidential candidate of the government general elections in 1989, José María Aznar, was elected president of the PP. Confirmed in the National Executive, Mariano Rajoy was appointed deputy secretary general of the party. He was re-elected in Pontevedra in the election on 6 June 1993.

Ministerial debut[link]

3 March 1996, the PP won the early parliamentary and Mariano Rajoy, who had been elected MP, was appointed Minister of Public Administrations on 6 May in the first Aznar government. His term was marked by the adoption in 1997 of the Law on organization and operation of the general administration of the State (LOFAGE), which regulates the organization and functions of central government, and the Law on the Government.

It changes its portfolio 20 January 1999 and replaces Esperanza Aguirre, strongly criticized the Ministry of Education and Culture [3]. Just after his appointment, he was reelected vice-secretary general of the PP during its thirteenth national conference [4]. The prisoners of José María Aznar [edit]

In 2000, he led the Conservative election campaign for the elections on March 12, the latter won with an absolute majority of seats against socialists. Mariano Rajoy was appointed, April 28, Senior Vice President of Government and Minister of the Presidency [5].

Less than a year later, 28 February 2001, it replaces Jaime Mayor Oreja, candidate for President of the Government of the Basque Country, as Interior Minister [6]. In this role, he impulse including the Organic Law on the right of association, approved the decree implementing the Organic Law on the rights and duties of foreigners, and present the draft law on the prevention of alcoholism.

When major cabinet reshuffle of 9 July 2002, he converted a man because strong government becomes minister of the presidency, retains his vice presidency and was appointed spokesman of the government [7], [8]. In his new role, he faced two very difficult times of Aznar's second term: the Prestige oil tanker disaster off the coast of Galicia, and the participation of Spain in the Iraq war desired by George W. Bush.

Approached, with Rodrigo Rato and Jaime Mayor Oreja, to succeed Jose Maria Aznar at the direction of the PP and as presidential candidate of the government to the 2004 legislative [9], he was chosen by him on 1 September 2003 [10] and leaves the government two days later [11]

Minister of the Interior: 1996–2004[link]

Mariano Rajoy

A long-time associate of José María Aznar, Rajoy made the move into national politics when Aznar became Prime Minister in 1996 with the support of Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Convergence and Union (CiU) and the Canarian Coalition, serving as Minister of Public administration and Minister of Education and Culture in the first Aznar administration.

He managed the successful People's Party campaign in the 2000 elections. A grateful Aznar appointed him Deputy Prime Minister of the Spanish Government. In February 2001 he was named Minister of the Interior, after Jaime Mayor Oreja decided to run as head of the People's Party list in the 2001 Basque Elections.

Leader of the People's Party[link]

On 30 August 2003 Aznar announced that he would retire from politics in the 2004 elections and proposed Rajoy as his successor. After the 14th Congress of the People's Party in October 2004 he became the new Chairman of the party, by then in the opposition, having lost the elections to the PSOE.

Leader of the Opposition: 2004–2011[link]

Three days before the 2004 general elections terrorist attacks occurred in Madrid on 11 March, which were initially blamed on ETA and later on Al-Qaeda. Aznar's government and Party leaders insisted on accusing the armed Basque separatist organisation ETA of the attacks, and on 13 March, Rajoy claimed to believe this because he was convinced of their will and capability for committing such crimes.^[1] The government was accused of attempting to blame ETA for the attacks in order to stay on track to win the elections (as they were heavily favored to do), but then news broke that it was Al-Qaida, rather than ETA.

On 14 March 2004 the PSOE, under the leadership of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, won the elections with a majority of 1,300,000 votes over the PP, and obtained 164 deputies, while the PP obtained 9,763,144 votes but 148 deputies, 35 less than they obtained in 2000.^[2] Rajoy was elected for the province of Madrid.

On 1 December 2005, Rajoy survived a helicopter accident, along with Madrid Regional Government President Esperanza Aguirre; he broke a finger in the accident.^[3]

Rajoy faced a serious situation within his party after receiving public pressure from the electorally successful Alberto Ruiz Gallardón (Madrid's Mayor) to be included in the PP lists for the March 2008 general election. Gallardón represents a more centrist sector within the party, whereas Rajoy, Angel Acebes and Eduardo Zaplana are widely accepted^[vague] as representing a more conservative wing of the party, closer to Aznar^{[citation needed]}. Rajoy's final decision was to leave Gallardón out of the list for those elections, an action which provoked concern about the alienation of potential PP voters. Some experts and newspapers even argued that it could cost Rajoy the elections^{[citation needed]}. In any case, the power struggle for succession created a tense situation for him and for the party.^[4]

On 30 January 2008, Rajoy received the support of Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy for the March 2008 general election.^[5][6] The PP was defeated in the general election, however, and Rajoy continued to lead his party in opposition.

His criticisms of the Zapatero administration were focused on what he perceived as:

• The derogation of ambitious plans of the previous executive,
• The Plan Hidrológico Nacional National Hydrological Plan,
• The LOCE Organic Law on the Quality of Education,
• The alleged "unnecessary" statutory reforms, such as submitted in the Catalan, and Andalusian referendums with very high levels of abstention. According to Rajoy, some of those reforms constitute concealed changes of the autonomous communities towards a confederation, endangering the integrity of the State.
• He has said that if Zapatero wants to apply his view of Spain, it would be better if he proposed a reform of the Spanish Constitution, a reform that would need approval in a national referendum.
• The alleged weakness facing the peace process opened as a result of the permanent ceasefire declared by the organisation ETA in 2006, broken by the Barajas bombing and the arms robbery.^[specify]
• The legalization of abortion until 14 weeks of pregnancy, a law that Mariano Rajoy sees as "criminal" and against the will of large sectors of the Spanish society

In Foreign policy

• The alleged cold relations with United States and Poland.
• The alliances with Hugo Chávez, from Venezuela, Fidel Castro, from Cuba and Evo Morales, from Bolivia.

Election Campaign[link]

This election will show exactly how Spaniards feel about the state of their economy. "Election campaign begins, crushed by the economic situation," was today's headline in El Pais newspaper. "The unemployment election campaign begins," said El Mundo. Job creation is the key issue here - almost the only topic of discussion in the campaign. Almost 5m people are out of work, and 1.5m households now have no wage-earner at all.

The Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is trying to blame this desperate state of affairs on the economic crisis. They suggest it will be a punishment vote, which will likely hand the Popular Party an all-out majority in parliament. The party's candidate for prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has already lost two general elections. Positioning himself carefully as a moderate, he is pitching this election as a vote for change whilst steering clear of radical proposals.

Mr Rajoy slammed Spain's unemployment rate as "unbearable and unacceptable" as the latest data showed 4,350 people per day losing their job in October. The Socialists, he said, "did not know how to manage Spain's economy, and now the Spanish people are paying the price for that." He promises he will shepherd Spain out of crisis - recovering the shaky confidence of international investors and so reducing the government's ominously high borrowing costs. The debt crisis in Greece has raised concerns over the solvency of other weak economies, like Spain, So the PP campaign slogan calls on voters to "Join the change!" The party manifesto stresses its commitment to cutting the country's swollen budget deficit in line with EU requirements. It proposes tax breaks for savers and small firms who hire staff; benefits for those who take on young employees; more flexible labour contracts and wage negotiations and big cuts in red tape, to encourage entrepreneurs to set up in business. At the same time, it pledges to protect public healthcare and education, saving money through efficiency and better management.

Prime Minister[link]

Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, greeting former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy in the Moncloa Palace (16 January 2012)

In November 2011, Mr. Rajoy’s center-right Popular Party won its biggest majority since the country’s return to democracy in the 1970s, securing 186 of the 350 seats in the lower house of Parliament. Voters turned to him in hopes of alleviating the pain of Europe’s debt crisis. Following the general election held in 2011, Rajoy was elected Prime Minister by the Congress of Deputies on 21 December 2011.

Prime Minister of Spain and Humala

Inauguration

December 19, Mariano Rajoy, designated presidential candidate of the government of Juan Carlos I, appeared before the Congress of Deputies, its government program. He says that to achieve the objective of a deficit of 4.4% of GDP in 2012, an effort of 16.5 billion euros will be needed [30]. He added that his only increased public spending will be the revaluation of pensions from 1 January 2012, it will not create any jobs in the public, except for security forces, he intends "to resize the area public, "the possibility for employees to enjoy a holiday will be moved to Monday to avoid the" bridges ", and it will end early departures for retirement [31].

It invested two days later by 187 votes to 149 votes against and 14 abstentions. It thus receives the support of the PP, the Forum of Asturias (FCC) and Navarrese People's Union (UPN), while the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), Convergence and Union (CiU), the United Left (IU ) and Union, progress and Democracy (UPyD) deny him the confidence. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the coalition Amaiur, to general surprise, and the Canary Coalition (CC) not [32]. He was appointed a few hours later, president of the government by King Juan Carlos I. [33] and sworn in the next day at the Zarzuela Palace, before the royal couple, Zapatero, the Presidents of the Cortes Generales, between other [34].

Government formation

It presents, December 21, his government, which has thirteen Ministers, the lowest number of Spanish democratic history although Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, Vice President of the Government, Minister of the Presidency, the government spokesman, and Ana Pastor, Minister of Equipment, occupy prominent positions,

The Ministries of Culture, Science, Territorial Policy are deleted, the Ministry of Economy and Finance is split into two, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is maintained, unlike statements by the new head of government in his speech before Congress [37].

Among the ministers, Pastor, Cristóbal Montoro, Minister of Finance, and Miguel Arias Cañete, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment, were part of last Aznar government, the latter two also occupying the same positions [38].

First austerity plan

On 30 December, the Council of Ministers approves a decree of urgent measures to 8.9 billion euros in savings and € 6.2 billion in new revenues. Treatment of the public service are frozen, the workweek in public administration to 37 ½ hours, recruitment is canceled, except in the areas of health, education, security, aid for rent for young people is removed, the minimum wage is stuck, for the first time since 1966, the income tax and tax on real property are increased for 2012 and 2013, but pensions are uprated 1%, the premium of 400 euros for the unemployed at the end of law is maintained, the value added tax at the rate of 4% superréduit is extended to the purchase of new dwellings, and the tax deduction for the purchase of a dwelling is restored [39].

Awards and honors[link]

Order of Charles III (12 September 2003)

Honorary Doctorate by the Sergio Arboleda University in Bogota Colombia (21 April 2012).

Genealogy[link]

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (June 2012)

• http://fr.euronews.com/2011/11/20/mariano-rajoy-je-ne-promets-aucun-miracle/
• http://www.publico.es/espana/373519/el-cis-ja-en-10-puntos-la-ventaja-del-pp-sobre-zapatero
• http://elpais.com/diario/1999/01/19/espana/916700412_850215.html
• http://elpais.com/diario/1999/01/30/espana/917650807_850215.html
• http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/10/29/espana/1193663089.html
• http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/06/21/espana/1214081240.html
• http://www.abc.es/20120419/espana/abci-rajoy-bogota-reformas-201204190831.html
• (es) « Mariano Rajoy confirma que creará un Ministerio de Agricultura », dans El Día, 19 décembre 2011 [texte intégral [archive] (page consultée le 22 décembre 2011)]
• http://www.lavanguardia.com/temas/mariano-rajoy/index.html
• (es) Carlos Cué, « Un Gobierno de amigos y fieles », dans El País Política, 22 décembre 2011 [texte intégral [archive] (page consultée le 22 décembre 2011)]
• http://www.intereconomia.com/noticias/mariano%20rajoy
• ↑ (es) María Jesús Güemes, « Rajoy incumple su palabra y sube los impuestos », dans Público, 30 décembre 2011 [texte intégral [archive] (page consultée le 31 décembre 2011)]
• http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2012/04/19/actualidad/1334865385_051210.html
• http://politica.elpais.com/tag/ley_reforma_laboral/a/

External links[link]

• Personal page (Spanish)
• Extensive biography by CIDOB (Spanish)

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Rosa Díez
Member of Basque Parliament
In office 1986–1999
Member of European Parliament
In office 1999–2007
Leader of UPyD
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 September 2007
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 April 2008
Constituency	Madrid
Personal details
Born	(1952-05-27) 27 May 1952 (age 60) Güeñes, Basque Country,  Spain
Political party	UPyD
Spouse(s)	José Ignacio Fernández de Ochoa
Children	2
Religion	None

Rosa Díez González (born May 27, 1952 in Güeñes, Biscay, Spain) is a Spanish politician. She is a former Member of the European Parliament for the PSOE ("Partido Socialista Obrero Español" or Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), integrated in the Party of European Socialists.

In 2007 she gave up her seat and left the PSOE due to strong disagreement on what she perceived to be the Socialists' drift on individual liberties, ETA, and more. Subsequently she founded a new political party, UPyD ("Unión, Progreso y Democracia" or Union, Progress and Democracy), based on an already existing movement of basque citizens against terrorism of ETA. In 2008 and 2011, she was elected to the Congress of Deputies (Spain) representing Madrid district. In the last Spanish General Elections of 2011, she was re-elected, and her party was the fourth most voted party in Spain.

References[link]

• UPyD Website (in Spanish).
• UPyD Manifesto (in Spanish).