José Bono Martínez

José Bono Martínez (May 3, 2005)

José Bono Martínez (born  December 14, 1950 in Salobre / Albacete ) is a Spanish politician of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE). He was President of the Autonomous Region of Castile-La Mancha and Minister of Defense in the Zapatero Cabinet .

Early political activity

After studying economics and law, Bono worked as a lawyer and in 1970 joined the Socialist People's Party (Partido Socialista Popular, PSP), one of the forces of resistance against the Franco regime. In 1972 he became Professor of Political Law at the Complutense University of Madrid . In 1979, when the PSP merged with the PSOE , José Bono was elected to the Spanish Parliament as a member of that party .

President of the autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha (1983-2004)

1983 Bono was elected president of the autonomous region of Castilla-La Mancha selected, a post which he held for six consecutive legislative sessions took, and his party reached an absolute majority in each regional election. Bono was thus one of the three “barons” of the PSOE, alongside the presidents of Extremadura , Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra , and of Andalusia , Manuel Chaves , who achieved similar electoral successes in their regions.

After the PSOE's defeat at the national level in 2000, Bono was considered the most promising candidate for the office of General Secretary - and future top candidate - of his party, but lost with just nine votes in a fight against José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero .

Defense Minister (2004-2006)

Before the Spanish parliamentary elections in 2004 , José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced that if the PSOE won the election, Bono would take over the Ministry of the Interior. In fact, he was then appointed Minister of Defense in the first Zapatero cabinet .

On April 7, 2006, José Bono announced his resignation for family reasons, including alleged disagreements with President Zapatero over the reform of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. His successor was the previous Minister of the Interior, José Antonio Alonso . According to opinion polls, at the time of his temporary retirement from politics, José Bono was the most popular minister in the Zapatero government.

Political positions

José Bono is seen as a representative of the moderate wing of the PSOE and as an opponent of an overly extensive transfer of political powers to the Spanish autonomous regions. As Defense Minister, he was responsible for the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq shortly after the PSOE came into power in 2004 and for the sale of several Spanish coastal frigates to Venezuela . Both measures met with criticism from the US government.

The "Bono Case"

In January 2005, Bono became the focus of a harsh polemic between the largest Spanish parties after he filed a criminal complaint with a demonstration against the terrorist organization ETA by two members of the conservative opposition party Partido Popular (PP ) suffered. They were identified three days later and arrested for a few hours, but were ultimately acquitted for lack of evidence. However, according to a complaint by the PP, the police officers responsible for the arrest were later convicted by the Madrid Criminal Court for illegal arrest and coercion; in the grounds of the judgment it was considered to be proven that Bono had not been the victim of assault / aggression. However, on June 29, 2007, that judgment was overturned by the Spanish Supreme Court.

President of Parliament (since 2008)

Even after his resignation as defense minister, Bono was several times under discussion for political offices. In October 2006, for example, he was considered a possible lead candidate for the PSOE for the office of Mayor of Madrid. After initially indicating his willingness to do so in an interview, he later declined.

In the Spanish parliamentary elections in 2008 Bono finally ran again and won a seat in the Congress of Deputies. Following an agreement previously made with Zapatero, he was elected President of Parliament in April 2008. He replaced Manuel Marín in this position , who is withdrawing from politics.

Web links

• Official website (in Spanish)