José María Aznar

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
José María Aznar on March 17, 2003
José María Aznar Signature 2nd svg

José María Alfredo Aznar López [xoˈse maˈɾia alˈfɾeðo aθˈnaɾ ˈlopeθ] (born February 25, 1953 in Madrid ) is a Spanish politician ( PP ) and was Prime Minister ( Presidente del Gobierno ) of Spain from May 1996 to March 2004 .

Life

Aznar has been married to Ana Botella since 1977. They have two sons and a daughter.

Before his political career, Aznar worked as a tax inspector after completing his law degree. However, he was already politically active in the early years with the extremist "falangistas independientes" and in the 1970s he was in charge of a student organization (FES) that followed the tradition of the fascist organization Falange Española of the 1930s. a. Speeches in which he spoke out clearly against the transition to democracy.

From 1982 to 1987 Aznar was general secretary of the Alianza Popular (AP), a right-wing conservative party alliance, and from 1987 to 1989 head of government of Castile-Leon . The Partido Popular (PP) emerged from the AP in 1989 . Aznar became PP chairman in 1990; he succeeded his political foster father Manuel Fraga , who had been a minister in the Franco dictatorship.

The ETA carried out an explosives attack on Aznar on April 19, 1995: a car bomb exploded at a crossroads near his home and destroyed his heavily armored car . All inmates survived; Aznar was only slightly injured. The perpetrators were able to escape undetected.

On March 3, 1996, the PP won the Spanish parliamentary elections and Aznar was sworn in as Prime Minister two days later. It formed a minority government and was dependent on the tolerance of the regionalist parties CiU , PNV and CC . Contrary to the strongly centralized position of his party, Aznar had to make concessions with regard to the Spanish regions' aspirations for autonomy .

Aznar's neoliberal policy is considered to be the trigger for the Spanish property bubble and the Spanish economy that crashed after it burst (→ financial crisis from 2007 ) . In order to stimulate the economy, he and his then Minister of Economics and Finance, Rodrigo Rato, first liberalized land law and decided on tax breaks and a low interest rate policy . Billions of taxpayers' money were used to finance prestigious public buildings and countless Spaniards took out loans to buy real estate, which had led to the extreme rise in real estate prices.

Domestically, his political agenda was based on the restructuring of state finances in the neoliberal understanding, the achievement of strong economic growth and the fight against ETA terrorism; In terms of foreign policy, Aznar sought proximity to the Bush administration . In the elections on March 12, 2000 , the PP received an absolute majority of the seats in the lower house. In 2004, the PP government was voted out of office , mainly because of the Spanish involvement in the Iraq war and after the attacks of March 11, 2004 in Madrid .

Aznar was involved in a number of political scandals, especially in his second term, and was exposed to allegations from the parliamentary opposition and many media outlets. The following topics were particularly discussed in public:

José María Aznar
  • Allied support in the 2003 Iraq war against Saddam Hussein . His position was based on George W. Bush's policies and thus contributed to the 2003 Iraq crisis .
  • The information policy after the devastating Madrid attacks on March 11, 2004:
    With a view to the parliamentary elections that were due three days later, the Aznar government had unilaterally directed suspicions to the Basque underground organization ETA from the outset, despite the evidence of an Islamist background . The socialist workers' party PSOE interpreted Aznar's hasty assignment of blame as a deliberate lie in order to avoid a threatened punishment in the election on March 14th in view of the US support in the Iraq war. Aznar's consistent course at the side of US President Bush had been rejected by large parts of the Spanish population.
  • The pompous wedding celebration of his daughter Ana Aznar Botella with Alejandro Agag in 2002: Bride's witnesses included Tony Blair , Silvio Berlusconi and numerous Spanish ministers.
  • Sink of the oil tanker Prestige off the coast of Galicia in 2002.
  • In August 2003 it became known that the Aznar government supported the "Fundación Nacional Francisco Franco", whose task it is to promote the reputation of the fascist dictator Franco , with substantial subsidies through the Ministry of Culture.
  • After the change of government, it was revealed that the Spanish Foreign Ministry had paid the law firm Piper Rudnick two million dollars. It was alleged that this was done in order to secure the Congressional Gold Medal for Aznar . The PP claimed that the money was used for lobbying.

Aznar announced in 2003 that he would not run for the next election. He proposed Mariano Rajoy as his successor. After the end of his tenure, Aznar followed the call of the Catholic Georgetown University in Washington, DC and teaches at the university as an associate professor ( lecturer ) on contemporary European politics and transatlantic relations.

Thanks to above-average economic growth, during the eight years of Aznar's reign, unemployment fell from 22 to 11%. The proceeds from the privatization of state-owned companies ( Repsol , Endesa , Telefónica , Iberia ) made it possible to reduce public debt and deficits. The rigorous austerity measures of his government enabled Spain to join the European monetary union and the introduction of the euro .

Conscription was suspended during Aznar's tenure ; the armed forces became a professional army .

Awards

See also

Web links

Commons : José María Aznar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Los hijos de Aznar están de actualidad: las 10 cosas que debes saber sobre ellos. Noticias de Noticias . In: El Confidencial . ( elconfidencial.com [accessed August 21, 2018]).
  2. ^ Letter from Aznar to the Falangist newspaper SP , July 1, 1969 (PDF)
  3. ↑ Ediciones El País: ETA intenta asesinar a Aznar con un coche bomba . In: El País . April 20, 1995, ISSN  1134-6582 ( elpais.com [accessed August 21, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Biografia de José María Aznar. Retrieved August 21, 2018 (Spanish).
  5. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung - The Aznar system. February 15, 2013, accessed May 11, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Profile: Aznar's hand-picked heir
  7. ↑ Law 17/1999 of May 18
  8. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF, 7 MB)
predecessor Office successor
Felipe González Prime Minister of Spain
1996-2004 		José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
personal data
SURNAME Aznar, José María
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aznar López, José María (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish politician, Prime Minister (1996-2004)
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Madrid