María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
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| María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz | |
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| Assumed office April 18, 2004 |
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| President | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero |
| Preceded by | Rodrigo Rato |
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| Born | June 15, 1949 Valencia, Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain |
| Nationality | Spain |
| Political party | PSOE |
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz, Doctor of Law (born June 15, 1949) is a Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politician, since April 18, 2004 the First Vice President and Minister of Presidency in the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero[1]. She is the first female First Vice President.
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[edit] Biography
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz is the daughter of the important Francoist public servant Wenceslao Fernández de la Vega Lombán; delegate of the Ministry of Employment ruled then by Fermín Sanz Orrio (1957 - 1962). She earned a degree in Law in the Complutense University of Madrid in the early 1970s. She subsequently travelled to Barcelona, where she became a Doctor of Law. In 1974 she entered the Spain's Cuerpo de Secretarios Jurídicos Laborales.
She started her political career in the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia, remaining a member of it until 1979. From 1982 until 1985, she was the Director of the Advisory Cabinet of the Minister of the Justice, and in 1985 she was appointed General Director of Services of the Ministry of Justice. In 1986 she became a member of the Legal Cooperation Committee of the Council of Europe. In 1990, she was chosen as a spokesperson of the General Council of the Judicial Power of Spain by decision of the Senate (1994-1996). In May 13, 1994, the then Minister Juan Alberto Belloch appointed her Secretary of State of Justice.
She was elected a Member of the Parliament for Jaén in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party candidacy for the 1996-2000 term, being re-elected in the elections of 2000 for Segovia. During this term she became General Secretary of the Socialist Parliamentary Group. In the Spanish general election of 2004 she became a Member of the Parliament for Madrid, and in April 18 of that year she was appointed as First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Presidency, remaining the incumbent of each.
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega was the first woman to take on the functions of a President in the history of Spanish democracy, when, on April 24, 2004, during the first official visit abroad of Spain's prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, she presided the Council of Ministers.
In March 2006 the First Vice President went on an African tour with the State Secretary for Cooperation, Leire Pajín, visiting Kenya and Mozambique, in whose capital, Maputo, they celebrated the International Women's Day and closed the forum "Spain-Africa: Women for a better world".
In October 7, 2006 she received the Tomás y Valiente Award in Fuenlabrada, Madrid.
Fernández de la Vega has a degree in Communitarian Law in the University of Strasbourg and is a member of Jueces para la Democracia. She has written many papers, including La reforma de la jurisdicción laboral and Derechos humanos y Consejo de Europa.
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| Preceded by Rodrigo Rato |
First Vice President of Spain 2004–present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Javier Arenas |
Minister of the Presidency 2004–present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Eduardo Zaplana |
Spokesperson of the Government of Spain 2004–present |
Incumbent |
