Miguel Sebastian

Miguel Sebastian

Miguel Sebastián Gascón (born May 13, 1957 in Madrid ) is a Spanish economist and politician of the socialist party PSOE . From April 2008 to December 2011 he was Minister for Industry, Tourism and Economy in the second Zapatero cabinet .

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After studying economics at Complutense University in Madrid and the University of Minnesota , he worked for economics journals and professor of fundamentals of economic analysis at Complutense University.

From 1999 he headed the research department of the Spanish bank BBVA , from where he repeatedly criticized the liberal economic policies of the Spanish government under José María Aznar and Economics Minister Rodrigo Rato . In 2003, Sebastián lost this post and was instead appointed economic policy advisor to then-opposition leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero .

After the PSOE's victory in the Spanish parliamentary elections in 2004 , Sebastián was considered a possible minister of economics or a possible new head of the Spanish central bank . Most recently, he was appointed head of the economic office in the presidential office and thus remained in the circle of close confidants of Zapatero.

On October 25, 2006, Sebastián resigned from this office and was named a PSOE candidate for the Madrid municipal elections in May 2007. Previously, several other party members, including the former defense minister José Bono , had rejected this candidacy because an election victory against the popular conservative mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón ( PP ) seemed almost impossible. In fact, Sebastián experienced after a hapless election campaign in which he claimed, among other things, in a television duel that Ruiz-Gallardón was involved in a corruption affair, without being able to provide any evidence, a heavy defeat; the PSOE lost three seats, while the PP was able to increase its absolute majority. Thereupon Sebastián resigned his place on the city council and took over his professorship again at the Complutense University.

After the PSOE won the Spanish parliamentary elections in 2008 , Miguel Sebastián was appointed Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade; In addition, Beatriz Corredor and Cristina Garmendia, two of his confidants, have been appointed to the departments for housing construction and science and innovation. Sebastián was thus considered the new heavyweight in the Zapatero cabinet. However, the business and finance department remained in the hands of Vice President Pedro Solbes .

Political positions

Unlike the liberal economy minister Pedro Solbes, Miguel Sebastián represents more Keynesian and interventionist positions. For example, he was the initiator of the one-time reduction in income tax of 400 euros for all Spanish taxpayers, announced by Zapatero before the 2008 parliamentary election , which was intended to counteract the economic downturn after the outbreak of the international banking and real estate crisis. Sebastián also defended the strict requirements imposed by the Spanish market supervisory authority when E.ON attempted to take over the energy supplier Endesa in 2006. These requirements were criticized by liberals as protectionist; the PP accused Sebastián of having put unlawful pressure on the supervisory authority to prevent a takeover.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sebastián: "Para Gallardón, el urbanismo es un tema personal" ( El País , May 17, 2007)
2. ↑ Sebastián resucita como hombre de confianza ( El País , April 13, 2008)
3. ↑ El PP denuncia a Sebastián ya Arenillas por su actuación en la OPA de Endesa ( El País , May 22, 2007)

Web links

Commons : Miguel Sebastián  - Collection of images, videos and audio files