Felipe González

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Felipe González Márquez

Prime Minister of Spain
In office December 2, 1982 – May 5, 1996
Preceded by	Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo
Succeeded by	José María Aznar

Born	March 5, 1942 Dos Hermanas, Seville
Political party	PSOE
Spouse	Carmen Romero

Felipe González Márquez (born March 5, 1942) is a Spanish socialist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997. He was also the longest-serving Prime Minister of the Spanish government, in four successive mandates from 1982 to 1996.

1 Career
2 Presidency
3 After the presidency
4 Published works
5 External links
6 See also

[edit] Career

González was born in Dos Hermanas, Seville, Andalucía. When he became a student at the University of Seville he was a Christian Democrat and was active in 2 Roman Catholic organisations.

He joined the PSOE, an illegal organisation since 1939, in 1962. As a party activist he used the nom de guerre Isidoro. In 1965 he became a part of the PSOE Seville Provincial Committee, serving until 1969.

In 1966 he graduated in law before setting up a practice specialising in representing workers. During this time he also taught law at Seville University as teaching assistant. In 1969 he married Carmen Romero.

He served on the PSOE National Committee between 1969 and 1970, when he became a member of the party's Executive Commission. He was arrested in 1971 for attending protests against Franco. He was elected PSOE General Secretary in the Congress of Suresnes (France) of 1974 which represented a victory for the young renovating wing of the party over the traditionalist veterans.

After Franco's death in 1975, González became one of the leaders of the legal democratic opposition as a part of the Platform for Democratic Convergence that in March 1976 became a part of the Democratic Junta (front) of Spain. In February 1977 the PSOE was legalised, and participated in Spain's first post Franco general election on June 15 where they gained 29.2% of the vote and 118 seats, making González leader of the opposition in the Parliament.

González wanted to rid the PSOE of its Marxist character in order to convert it into a Social-democratic party that appealed to all classes. On May 20, 1977, accompanied by Javier Solana, he went to see King Juan Carlos in the Zarzuela Palace. He was named Vice President of the centre left Socialist International on November 7, 1978. On March 1 the PSOE consolidated their position as the main opposition party, gaining 30.5% of the vote and 121 seats. González then resigned as Secretary General on May 17, 1979 during the 27th Congress when the Marxist wing won it with more than 60%. In September the PSOE called a special 28th Congress in which he was re-elected Secretary General by an overwhelming 85.9%, after the Marxists refused to take the directionship and Gonzalez supporters cut internal democracy in the pre-congressual assemblies.

González reportedly refused a celebratory drink offered by a comrade on the news of Franco's death saying I will not drink to the death of any Spaniard.

[edit] Presidency

In the 1982 general election held on October 28, 1982, the PSOE gained 48.3% of the vote and 202 deputies (out of 350). On December 2 González became the prime minister, with Alfonso Guerra as his deputy. His election was met with tremendous expectation of change amongst Spaniards. Under his government education was made universal and free until the age of 16, university education was expanded, the social security system began and a partial legalisation of abortion became law for the first time, despite opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. González pushed for liberal reforms and a restructuring of the economy.

On February 23, 1983, the Government passed a law nationalising Rumasa, a private business that included merchant banking interests, on the grounds that it was at the point of bankruptcy and the government needed to protect the savings of depositors and the jobs of its 60,000 employees, a decision that aroused considerable criticism and a judicial conflict over the law that was only resolved, in favour of the government, in December 1986.

Having promised in the election to create 800,000 new jobs his government's restructuring of the steel industry actually resulted in job lay offs, especially in the provinces. When they tried to similarly tackle the debt problems in the dock industry in 1984 the dockers went on strike. The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), or Workers' General Union, called a general strike on June 20, 1985 in protest against social security reforms. The same year his government began a massive privatisation both partial or full, of the 200 state owned companies, as well as the hundreds of affiliates dependent on these companies.

In the 1986 general election held on June 22, 1986, the PSOE gained 44.1% of the vote and 184 deputies in Parliament. González was elected prime minister for the second time. During this second term, Spain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1986. González supported Spain entering NATO that same year in a referendum reversing his and the party's earlier anti-NATO position. A general strike on December 14, 1988 completely paralysed the country and caused the Unions and the PSOE left wing to describe González as moving to the right.

On October 29, 1989, he won the 1989 general election with 39.6% of the vote and 175 seats, his third successive mandate. In the First Gulf War in 1991, González supported the USA. From 1991, the PSOE started losing its urban vote in favour of the reformed People's Party.

On June 6, 1993, González won the 1993 general election with 38.8% of the vote and 159 deputies. His fourth victory was marred by the fact he was forced to form a pact with small political parties from Catalonia and Basque country in order to form a new government.

Towards the end of 1995 there was a debate about whether González should lead the PSOE in the forthcoming general elections. The People's Party intensified its campaign to associate his period in office with a poor economic situation (although unemployment had begun to decline and the economic reforms of the previous decade initiated a lasting period of economic growth http://www.ine.es/daco/daco42/cne00/pib.xls#Tabla_2!A1) and with accusations of corruption and state terrorism scandals, including allegations of waging a dirty war against the terrorist group ETA. There was speculation in the press about Javier Solana as a possible replacement. (Solana was the only member of González's original cabinet), but Solana was appointed Secretary General of NATO in December 1995.

Left with no other suitable candidate, the party was again led by González and in the 1996 general election held on March 3, 1996, they gained 37.4% of the vote and 141 deputies. They lost the election to the People's Party whose leader José María Aznar replaced González as prime minister ("presidente" in Spanish, but not to be confused with the more common use of the term) on May 5, 1996.

The legacy of Felipe González's long mandate left a bittersweet taste. His Ministers of Economy and Finance (notably Miguel Boyer, Carlos Solchaga and Pedro Solbes) implemented a vigorous program of economic reforms that included privatization of public companies such as Telefónica or ENDESA, liberalization and deregulation of the economy and restructuring of whole industry sectors such as steel or mining which left many people unemployed and created resentment among the working classes and the trade unions. However his governments also paved the path to a long period of declining interest rates, low budgetary deficits and stronger economic growth than the European average. On the other hand his governments extended certain social benefits such as free universal health care and universal public schooling for all children under 16. Felipe González also secured the membership of Spain to the EEC, which the country joined in 1986 and consolidated democratic government. However in the final years of his mandate several cases of corruption, the most notable whereof were the scandals impersonated by Civil Guard Director Roldán, further eroded popular support for the PSOE. Nonetheless González and most of his ministers generally came across as having left office with clean hands albeit some unfortunate choices for some of the lower ranking public servants had been made (María Antonia Iglesias, La memoria recuperada. Lo que nunca han contado Felipe González y los dirigentes socialistas, 2003, this author is very close, though, to the PSOE official line, since she even served as head of the public TV broadcast Televisión Española appointed for the job by one of the Gonzalez's cabinets).

[edit] After the presidency

Since September 1996 he heads the Madrid-based Global Progress Foundation (FPG). At the beginning of the 34th PSOE National Congress on June 20, 1997 he made a surprise resignation as leader of the party. He also resigned from the federal executive committee, though retaining his seat in the Congress. With no clear successor he continued to exert an enormous influence over the party. He was only replaced at the 35th party Congress in July 2001 when José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero became the leader.

In 1999 González was put in charge of the party's Global Progress Commission in response to globalisation. The Commission's report formed the basis of the closing declaration of the 21st Socialist International Congress on November 8–9 1999.

He stood down as a deputy in the Spanish Parliament in March 2004.

One of his hobbies is tending bonsai trees. During his tenure at Moncloa, he received and cultivated several of them, mostly Mediterranean species, that he later donated to the Royal Botanic Garden of Madrid.

[edit] Published works

"Un discurso ético" (co-authorship with Víctor Márquez Reviriego, 1982)
"El Socialismo" (1997)
"El futuro no es lo que era" (co-authorship with Juan Luis Cebrián, 2001)
"Memorias del futuro" (2003)

[edit] External links

EU Council CV
Analysis of his rule
Felipe González at CIDOB bio. (Spanish)

[edit] See also

Preceded by Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo	Prime Minister of Spain 1982–1996	Succeeded by José María Aznar
Preceded by Interim Committee	Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 1979-1997	Succeeded by Joaquin Almunia
Preceded by Rodolofo Llopis	Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 1974-1979	Succeeded by Interim Committee