Mariano Rajoy Brey (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾjano raˈxoi βɾei]); born 27 March 1955) is the Prime Minister of Spain, elected on 20 November 2011. He has been leader of the People's Party since 2004. 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, an election 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. Rajoy's government was formed on 21 December 2011 with thirteen ministers—the lowest number in Spanish democratic history. Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, Vice President of the Government, Minister of the Presidency, the government spokesman, and Ana Pastor Julián, Minister of Equipment were appointed. The Ministries of Culture, Science, and Territorial Policy were ended, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance was split into two new ministries. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment was kept intact, despite statements made by Rajoy speech before Congress that indicated the opposite intention. Among the ministers, Cristóbal Montoro Romero, Minister of Finance, and Miguel Arias Cañete, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment, had been members of the previous Aznar government and continued to occupy the same posts. On 30 December 2011, the Council of Ministers approved an cuts plan (called as austerity plan) amounting to 8.9 billion euros in savings and €6.2 billion in new revenues. Salaries of public workers were frozen, the workweek in public administration was reduced to 37.5 hours, and recruitment of new public employees was halted, except in the areas of security, health and education. A program that provided rent assistance for young people was ended, and the minimum wage was frozen—something that had not happened since 1966. The income tax and tax on real estate was also increased for 2012 and 2013. Pensions were adjusted up 1%, however, and the tax deduction for the purchase of homes was reinstated. The premium of 400 euros for the long-term unemployed (due to a lack of industry) at the end of law was maintained but only for those registered as job seekers with the public employment service for at least 12 months out of the previous 18 and whose income amounts were less than three quarters of the net minimum wage.[16] A 4% value-added tax was expanded to include new home purchases. According to the newspaper El País, in a series of documents published in its 30 January 2013 edition, under the title of "Bárcenas' secret papers", referring to the accounting of the conservative party from 1999 to 2009, Mariano Rajoy and María Dolores de Cospedal had received extra payments in "black" money from the former treasurer of the People's Party, Luis Bárcenas. According to these documents, both Bárcenas and Álvaro Lapuerta managed donations from businessmen and private builders (three of whom are accused in the Gürtel case), cited as sources of income of the PP. As regards expenditure, apart from the allocations for the effective functioning of the party, payments were made to members of the leadership of the party during those years appear, without specifying the concept. Accounting by Bárcenas shows yearly payments of 25,200 euros for 11 years to the President, in addition to smaller amounts estimated at 33,207 for concepts such as "Mariano's suits", "Mariano's ties", or "M.R.'s suits". PP Secretary-General María Dolores de Cospedal also appears in the papers of these payments, as well as other leaders, such as former ministers Javier Arenas, Jaime Mayor Oreja and Francisco Álvarez-Cascos.[20][21][22] By February 7, just one week after publication of the documents, one million people had signed a petition launched by the organization Change.org asking for the immediate resignation of Mariano Rajoy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Rajoy

• published: 20 Jan 2014
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