Federico Trillo

Federico Trillo Figueroa
Minister of Defence
In office 2000–2004
Preceded by	Eduardo Serra
Succeeded by	José Bono
President of the Congress of Deputies
In office 1996–2000
Preceded by	Felix Pons
Succeeded by	Luisa Fernanda Rudi
Ambassador of Spain to the United Kingdom
In office 2012–2011
Preceded by	Carles Casajuana
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office 1989–2012
Constituency	Alicante
Personal details
Born	(1952-05-22) 22 May 1952 Cartagena, Spain
Nationality	Spain
Political party	Partido Popular
Profession	Lawyer, Public servant
Military service
Service/branch	Navy
Years of service	1974-1989
Rank	Judge-Advocate Mayor
Unit	Naval Legal Corps

Federico Trillo-Figueroa Martínez-Conde (born in Cartagena, Spain, May 23, 1952) is a former Spanish Politician of the People's Party, who has served as President of the Congress of Deputies, Minister of Defense and Ambassador of Spain to the United Kingdom.

His father, also named Federico Trillo, was a politician during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

He has a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid. He is married with five children.

Trillo entered into the Navy's Legal Corps as first of his class in 1974 where he was posted in the naval prosecutor's office of the Maritime Zone of the Mediterranean, later he was posted in the Directorship of Military Naval Construction. In 1979, he passed the competitive examination for Counsel of the Council of State. He retired from the navy as a Judge-Advocate Mayor in 1989 in order to enter politics.

In 1983 he entered the legal staff of the Coalición Popular (People's Coalition), then headed by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, where he actively participated in the restructuring of the party, refashioning it as the People's Party. He has been a member of the national executive since 1986.

Trillo has been elected deputy for the province of Alicante since 1989. From 1989 and 1996, he was vice-president of the Congress of Deputies. On March 27, 1996, he was elected president of the Congress of Deputies, a position he maintained until the end of the sixth legislature in 2000. On April 27, 2000, Prime Minister José María Aznar named him Minister of Defense for Aznar's second government.

In July 2002, he ordered an attack on Perejil Island, which had been occupied for days by Moroccan soldiers. The Yakovlev 42 crash in Turkey on May 26, 2003 in which 62 Spanish soldiers died while returning from Afghanistan marked the end of his tenure as the Minister of Defense. Three of his subordinates were sent to prison for falsifying the identification of 30 of the bodies. A judge found no grounds to implicate Trillo, and Trillo repeatedly refused to accept political or criminal responsibility.

Trillo is the author of many books on law and judicial and political thought. His most recognized works are: El poder político en los dramas de Shakespeare (Political Power in Shakespeare's Dramas) and Pregones y Semblanzas.

He collaborated in the founding of the Association for Studies for Social Progress. He is a member of the Spanish Commission of Military History, and a member of Opus Dei.

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