Joaquín Almunia

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Joaquín Almunia (born 17 June 1948) is a Spanish politician and member of the European Commission responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs.

Born in Bilbao, he is married and has two children. He graduated in Law and Economics at the University of Deusto, and completed follow-up studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and the “Senior managers in Government” program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was an associate lecturer on Employment and Social Security Law at the University of Alcalá de Henares.

Almunia was chief economist of the Unión General de Trabajadores, a Spanish trade union, from 1976 to 1979. He was economist at the Council Bureau of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce in Brussels from 1972 to 1975.

Almunia was a Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) Member of the Cortes Generales from 1979 to 2004. He was Minister of Employment and Social Security from 1982 to 1986 and Minister of Public Administration from 1986 to 1991, and was PSOE spokesperson from 1994 to 1997, then leader from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, he was the PSOE candidate for Prime Minister.

Almunia was director of the research program on Equality and redistribution of income at the Fundación Argentaria from 1991 to 1994. In 2002, he founded and was director of the progressive think tank Laboratorio de Alternativas.

He first joined the Prodi Commission on 26 April 2004 as a successor to Pedro Solbes who resigned to join the new Zapatero Government and was re-appointed to the Barroso Commission in November 2004.

[edit] External link

• Official website

Preceded by Felipe Gonzalez	Secretary General of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 1997-2000	Succeeded by Interim Political Committee
Preceded by Pedro Solbes	European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs 2004–2009	Succeeded by —
Preceded by Pedro Solbes	Spanish European Commissioner 2004–2009	Succeeded by —