Esperanza Aguirre
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| Esperanza Aguirre | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office October 17, 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón |
| Succeeded by | Current |
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| Born | January 3, 1952 Madrid, Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain |
| Nationality | Spain |
| Political party | PP |
| Spouse | Fernando Ramírez de Haro y Valdés, Count of Murillo |
Esperanza Aguirre Gil de Biedma, Countess of Murillo, Grandee of Spain, DBE (Madrid, January 3, 1952) is a Spanish politician, currently the President of the People's Party of Madrid. Since 2003 she has been the President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. She is the first female to have been President of the Senate and Minister of Education and Culture in Spanish democratic history. She was a member of Unión Liberal, Partido Liberal and Popular Alliance, which changed its name to People's Party in 1989.
Since her early years she has been a member of the Club Liberal of Madrid, which was presided over by the Complutense University Economic Doctrines professor, Pedro Schwartz. Schwartz, one of the most important leaders of Unión Liberal and one of the few representatives of classic liberalism in Spain, permitted the beginning of Esperanza's political career in 1983[1].
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[edit] Early years (1952-1974)
She was born in a high-class family of Madrid, daughter of the lawyer José Luis Aguirre Borrell and Piedad Gil de Biedma Seoane, she is the eldest of eight siblings. She is also a relative of the Catalonian poet Jaime Gil de Biedma. She studied in schools of La Asunción and in Madrid's British Institute. She earned a degree in Law in Complutense University of Madrid in 1974.
[edit] Administrative career (1974-1982)
In 1976 she joined the Technical Division of the Ministry of Information and Tourism as a civil servant. She was head of the Department of Publicity and Tourism, where she stayed until 1979. Since then she has had many different jobs in the Ministry of Culture, serving several Ministers during the government of Democratic Centre Union; specially designated by the Minister himself. In 1979, she was head of the Technical Cabinet of the Director-General of Literature and Cinematography. In 1980 she was appointed to be Deputy Director-General of Studies of the Technical State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture. Then, in 1981, she was appointed to be Deputy Director-General of the Technical Cabinet of the Secretary of Culture. Her last job for the Administration was as Deputy Director-General of Cultural Associations.
[edit] Councillor of Madrid (1983-1996)
Esperanza Aguirre first became a councillor with the defunct Coalición Popular, in which she was a member of the smaller Unión Liberal. Between 1983 and 1986 she held a seat on Madrid City Council as a member of Coalición Popular. While in opposition, she was a member of the Standing Committee of the City Council, a CP spokeswoman on the areas of Culture, Education, Youth and Sports Affairs, and the Moncloa district. When Unión Liberal merged with Partido Liberal, in December 1984, she held different positions in the National Executive and the Political Council of José Antonio Segurado's Partido Liberal.
In 1987 she left the Partido Liberal and joined Popular Alliance, later turned into the People's Party. She was subsequently reelected to the city council, and continued in opposition until 1989, when a successful vote of no confidence ousted the socialist mayor Juan Barranco; allowing the People's Party and Democratic and Social Centre to rule Madrid for the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1977. In the new local executive, she was designated head of the Environment department.
In 1991 the People's Party under José María Álvarez del Manzano won a council majority and Esperanza Aguirre was again appointed to the Environment Department. Two years later, she was designated as Head of the Culture Department and controlled the areas of Sports, Education and Hygiene. In 1995 she became the spokeswoman of People's Party in Madrid City Council and was appointed by the City Council to the Caja Madrid Board of Governors.
[edit] Minister of Education, Culture and Sports (1996-1999)
In the general election of 1996 she was the candidate to the Senate for Madrid of the People's Party, after her designation as a member of the National Executive Committee of the Party; and she became a senator. The then new President, José María Aznar, appointed her to be Minister of Education, Culture and Sports. She was succeeded in those posts in 1999 by Mariano Rajoy.
[edit] President of the Senate (1999-2002)
Aguirre, a Senator since 1996, was elected President of the Senate in February 1999, the first woman to do so. In March 2000, she was re-elected Senator for Madrid, becoming the top-voted candidate in Spain with 1.55 million votes and 50.7% of the popular vote, a record still unbroken[2]. In 2002 she resigned in order to run for the Presidency of the Autonomous Community of Madrid in the regional Assembly elections of 2003, being substituted as President of the Senate by Juan José Lucas.
[edit] President of the Community of Madrid (2003-)
.jpg/170px-Esperanza_Aguirre_en_Ripollet_(octubre_de_2007).jpg)
[edit] First regional elections of 2003 and the dissenting deputies of PSOE
When the regional elections took place in May 2003, the People's Party won a plurality of seats. The People's Party won 55 seats in the Madrid Assembly, being the only party of the right in the Assembly, While on the left PSOE won 47 seats and United Left won 9 seats, thus making it possible for a coalition of PSOE and IU to rule.
However, the election of a leftist coalition wasn't possible because of two dissenting deputies of the PSOE, Eduardo Tamayo and María Teresa Sáez, who refused to obey the party whip in the first two votes, the election of the speaker, and the election of the president. Most of the left and several media organs accused Tamayo and Saez of being bribed into breaking their party discipline by prominent members of PP, following accusations that the hotel rooms they were hiding in had been paid for by businessmen from the construction industry with links to the PP. This theory was dismissed by a parliamentary investigation and was never proven.
[edit] Second regional elections of 2003
In October 2003, following the scandal concerning the dissenting deputies, the regional elections were rerun. The People's Party won a majority of seats enabling Esperanza Aguirre to became the President of the Community Madrid.
In December 2005, she suffered a helicopter accident in Madrid, without being hurt. Her most important achievements in these years were the reduction of surgery waiting times, the building of 8 new hospitals, 87 new state schools (most of them bilingual), an increase in the investment for several scholarships of education and the expansion of the Underground to suburbial areas, like Pozuelo de Alarcón. The opposition to her says that these alleged achievements are not that good, and denounced the privatisation of the Health system in Madrid.
[edit] Private life
She has been married since 1974 to Fernando Ramírez de Haro y Valdés, Count of Murillo and Grandee of Spain, an important businessman, and has two sons, Álvaro and Fernando. She is fluent in English and French, and is a lover of culture, reading, painting and music.[citation needed]
In February of 2004, Esperanza Aguirre was appointed Dame of the British Order. She is the first Spanish woman to have received this title.
[edit] References
- ^ Sobre el papel de Pedro Schwartz para su entrada en política, puede consultarse el capítulo disponible on line de la biografía de Esperanza Aguirre escrita por Virginia Drake: Esperanza Aguirre: la presidenta. Esfera de los Libros, 2006.
- ^ In the 2008 election, her party colleague Juan José Lucas gathered 1.68 million votes, but such quantity only amounted to ~48.5% of the valid vote
[edit] External links
- Official biography of Esperanza Aguirre (Spanish)
- Site critical with Mrs. Aguirre's politic career (Spanish)
- Helicopter accident at YouTube (Spanish)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jerónimo Saavedra as Minister of Education and Carmen Alborch as Minister of Culture |
Minister of Education, Culture and Sports 1996 - 1999 |
Succeeded by Mariano Rajoy |
| Preceded by Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón |
President of Madrid 2003 - present |
Incumbent |
| Spanish Senate | ||
| Preceded by Juan Ignacio Barrera |
President of the Senate 1999 - 2002 |
Succeeded by Juan José Lucas |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Pío García-Escudero |
Presindent of the PP in Madrid 2004 – present |
Incumbent |
