José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spanish: [xoseˈlwis roˈðɾiɣeθ θapaˈteɾo] ;[1] born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections.[2] On 2 April 2011 he announced he would not stand for re-election in the 2011 general election and left office on 21 December 2011.
"Zapatero" redirects here. For other uses, see Zapatero (disambiguation).
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Among the main actions taken by the Zapatero administration were the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the Iraq war, the increase of Spanish troops in Afghanistan; the idea of an Alliance of Civilizations; the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Spain; reform of abortion law; a peace negotiation attempt with ETA; the end of ETA terrorism; increase of tobacco restrictions; and the reform of various autonomous statutes, particularly the Statute of Catalonia.
Biography[edit]
Family background and early life[edit]
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was born in Valladolid, Castile and León, to Juan Rodríguez y García-Lozano (born 1928), a lawyer, and María de la Purificación Zapatero Valero (Tordehumos, Valladolid, 1927 – Madrid, 30 October 2000). He grew up in León, where his family originated.[3]
His paternal grandfather, Juan Rodríguez y Lozano (28 July 1893 – Puente Castro, León, 18 August 1936), had been a captain in the Spanish Republican Army; he was executed by Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces a month into the Spanish Civil War, for refusing to fight with them.[4] His whereabouts were revealed by fascists in Valladolid.[5]
His maternal grandfather, Faustino Valentín Zapatero Ballesteros (Valladolid, 14 February 1899 – 1978), was a paediatrician and middle class liberal. His maternal grandmother María de la Natividad Valero y Asensio (Zamora, 9 December 1902 – Valladolid, 28 June 2006) was a conservative and died at age 103.[6] Zapatero was born in Valladolid not only because of his mother's attachment to her family, who lived there, but also because of the medical profession of her father.
Zapatero has said that, as a youngster, "as I remember it, I used to participate in late night conversations with my father and brother about politics, law or literature". However, he did not get along very well with his father at times. Sources say that his father refused to let him work or take any part in his law firm, and this scarred him for life.[7] He says that his family taught him to be tolerant, thoughtful, prudent and austere.[8]
The memory of Zapatero's grandfather was also kept alive by a last will, handwritten 24 hours before facing the firing squad, and which can be considered a final declaration of principles. The will comprised six parts, the first three bestowing his possessions on his heirs; the fourth, in which he asked for a civil burial and, the fifth, in which he requested his family to forgive those who had tried and executed him and proclaiming his belief in the Supreme Being. In the sixth, Zapatero's grandfather asked his family to clear his name in the future as his creed consisted only in his "love for peace, for good and for improving the living conditions of the lower classes".[9]
According to an Israeli newspaper, Maariv, by Zapatero's own statement: "My family, named Zapatero, is of Jewish descent", probably from a family of Marranos.[10] He is an agnostic.[11]
He studied law at the University of León, graduating in 1982. His performance as a student was above average before his pre-University year. According to his brother Juan: "He didn't study much but it made no difference, he continued successfully".[12]
After graduating, Zapatero worked as a teaching assistant in constitutional law at the University of León until 1986 (he continued working some hours a week without pay until 1991). It was subsequently found that he had been appointed by his department without the usual selection process involving interviews and competitive examinations, which if true, constitutes a case of political favouritism.[4] He has declared that the only activity that attracts him besides politics is teaching or, at most, academic research.[13]
Rodríguez Zapatero met Sonsoles Espinosa in León in 1981. They married on 27 January 1990 and have two daughters named Laura (b. 1993) and Alba (b. 1995).
Having received successive deferments because of his conditions as a university student and a teaching assistant, Zapatero did not fulfill the compulsory military service. As an MP he was finally exempted.[14]
Entering politics[edit]
Zapatero attended his first political rally, organized by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in Gijón in 1976. Some political parties had been legal since 21 July 1976, but the PSOE was not legalized until February 1977. The speech of Felipe González, the PSOE leader and future Prime Minister of Spain, who took part in the rally, exerted an important influence on Zapatero. He said, among other things, that "the Socialists' goal was the seizure of power by the working class to transform the ownership of the means of production" and that "the PSOE was a revolutionary party but not revolutionarist or aventurist [...], as it defended the use of elections to come to power".[15]
Zapatero and his family had been traditionally attracted to the Communist Party as it was the only party really organized before Francisco Franco's death in 1975. But, after the famous political rally in Gijón, they, and especially Zapatero, started to believe that the Socialist Party was the most probable future for the Spanish left.[16] At that time the Socialist Party was rebuilding its infrastructure in the province of León after having been outlawed following the Spanish Civil War.[17]
In 1977, the year of the first democratic elections after Franco's death, Zapatero supported both the Communist and Socialist parties. He pasted posters of both parties.[16]
He eventually joined the PSOE on 23 February 1979. The impression Felipe González had caused on him in 1976 played a fundamental role in his decision to join the party. In 1979, during the Congreso Extraordinario del PSOE (1979), the PSOE had renounced Marxism as its ideological base. He said nothing about joining the party at home, because he was afraid his parents would discourage him, considering him too young to join a political party.
In 1982, Zapatero became head of the socialist youth organization in the province of León. In July 1982, he met Felipe González at the summer school "Jaime Vera" and suggested that he make a "left turn" in the PSOE political program for the General Election of October 1982.[18] González answered advising him to abandon his conservative (traditional for PSOE [leftist]) viewpoint.
Styles of
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Ideology[edit]
Zapatero's social-democratic project of Nueva Vía ("New Way") was based to a substantial degree on the republicanism of Philip Pettit ("freedom as non-domination").[123] Branded domestically as socialismo cívico, his initial vision was underpinned by the extension of minority rights, the strengthening of the welfare state, a contrast between "constitutional patriotism" and "nationalism", the widening of spaces for deliberation and the defence of international organizations and multilateralism.[123]