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130-414: (Redirected from Zapatero Government ) The term Zapatero government may refer to: Governments of Rodríguez Zapatero Zapatero I Government , the government of Spain under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from 2004 to 2008. Zapatero II Government , the government of Spain under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from 2008 to 2011. Topics referred to by

260-494: A CiU leader and another supporter of the new statute. On January 22, 2006, they reached an agreement: the definition of Catalonia as a nation was relegated to the preamble of the Statute, and the "sovereignty" elements, including autonomous financing and the "bilateral" relationship between Spain and Catalonia, were modified. The Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) rejected the agreement between Zapatero and Mas, leading to

390-605: A referendum to ratify the treaty , which was held on February 20, 2005. It was approved by 75% of the voters, but the highest abstention rate in Spain's democratic history was recorded. However, Rodríguez Zapatero became internationally isolated when the European constitutional project failed—plunging the European Union into the worst institutional crisis in its history—and especially when Germany and France reconciled with

520-580: A "bilateral" relationship between Spain and Catalonia, implicitly recognizing the sovereignty of the "Catalan people." Criticism of the new Statute soon emerged, mainly from the PP and allied media, as it established a new "federal" or "confederal" model of the State that openly deviated from the 1978 Constitution . The questionable constitutionality of the Catalan Statute proposal put Rodríguez Zapatero in

650-635: A "left turn" in the PSOE political program for the General Election of October 1982. González answered advising him to abandon his conservative (traditional for PSOE [leftist]) viewpoint. In 1986, he was elected to represent the province of León in the Cortes (Parliament), becoming its youngest member after the election held on 20 June. He was number two on the PSOE list for León . In the following elections (those held in 1989, 1993, 1996 and 2000) he

780-472: A "slowdown in growth," which led to "a rupture between Zapatero and public opinion, which had previously been generally supportive of his government. This rupture deepened with the numerous optimistic economic forecasts made by Zapatero, which were repeatedly contradicted by stubborn facts that pointed to a deeper crisis than the government was willing to admit." The government responded to the crisis with typical Keynesian demand stimulus measures, most notably

910-639: A difficult position, as he had promised during the election campaign to support the project approved by the Catalan Parliament in the Madrid Cortes. Zapatero's difficulties became evident when voices within his own party, the PSOE, spoke out against the Statute, and criticism of the " Catalanism " and "sovereigntism" of Pasqual Maragall , the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Statute's main proponent, intensified. Meanwhile,

1040-454: A half years. Finally, in the absence of an agreement between unions and employers, the government approved a royal decree in June 2011 that "flexibilized" the collective bargaining system. The new economic policy was widely criticized by trade unions and other left-wing sectors, particularly because it focused on spending cuts while leaving revenues untouched—direct taxes remained unchanged, only

1170-573: A man speaking in Arabic with a Moroccan accent declared on behalf of al-Qaeda: What happened in Madrid... is a response to your collaboration with the criminals of Bush and his allies... [and] to the crimes you have caused in the world, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there will be more, God willing. The general elections took place on Sunday, March 14, 2004, and by 10 p.m., it was confirmed that

1300-403: A maximum duration for project-based contracts to prevent them from being used as open-ended contracts without the associated rights. With regard to pensions , the new law approved in June 2011 raised the retirement age from 65 to 67 and extended the calculation period for pensions from 15 to 25 years, while also increasing the contribution period required for the maximum pension from 35 to 38 and

1430-557: A new faction within the party called Nueva Vía (New Way) in April 2000, to serve him as a platform to become Secretary General. The name of Nueva Vía was a mix of Tony Blair 's Third Way ( tercera vía in Spanish) and Gerhard Schröder 's Neue Mitte ( new center or nuevo centro in Spanish). On 25 June 2000 Zapatero officially announced his intention to run for the federal Secretaryship General at an Extraordinary Conference of

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1560-509: A political crisis, as the lack of confidence in the government's ability to deal with it spread to the entire "political class" and the system as a whole. As Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca noted, "when the unemployment rate skyrockets and so many people have no job prospects, discouragement and frustration are directed at politicians. [...]The same goes for the impoverishment of large sectors of the population, evictions , energy poverty , child malnutrition and other social problems that have arisen during

1690-578: A real radicalization of the society took (and is taking) place . Zapatero's supporters blame his opponents for that and the People's Party blames him stating facts such as the increase in the acts of violence committed against them, especially in the months before and during the war in Iraq . As a result, a new term has become popular: guerracivilismo (made up of a combination of the Spanish for Civil War and

1820-435: A result, after being appointed Secretary General, he coined the term Calm Opposition ( Oposición Tranquila ) to refer to his opposition strategy. The Calm Opposition was supposedly based on an "open to dialogue", "soft", "constructive" attitude ( talante constructivo , coined as talante ) aimed not at damaging the government but at achieving the "best" for the people. (Zapatero has insisted on this point so many times that

1950-581: A stronger left-wing ideology whereas the second was more pragmatic. The division became wider after the General Election of 1993, the last election won by the PSOE before José María Aznar 's victory in 1996, when the bad results exacerbated the internal conflicts. Zapatero never formally joined either of those two groups. In 1993, the Socialist Federation of León (FSL – Federación Socialista de León) suffered an important scandal. Some towns experienced unusually sharp increases in PSOE membership in

2080-468: A teaching assistant by the University of León and in his keeping the job until 1991. The suspicions of political favoritism were due to his having been directly appointed without a prior selection process open to other candidates. On 20 May 1994, he held a press conference where he rejected these accusations. Zapatero attributed to "ignorance" or "bad faith" the content of the articles and linked them to

2210-539: A university student and a teaching assistant, Zapatero did not fulfill the compulsory military service. As an MP he was finally exempted. 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 ,

2340-521: A very important significance for him. He further explained that the Spanish left needed to modernize and that "we are finding it difficult to accept the need for the Socialist Party to change many of its ideological parameters and overcome our own conservatism". In 1988 he became Secretary General in León after a complex internal fight for power that ended a long period of division. In fact, before

2470-516: A very short period of time. When some of the supposed new members were questioned by the press, they stated that they were unaware of their membership and that they did not live in the places where they were being registered by the party. It seems that some opponents of Zapatero in León, perhaps with the support of powerful Guerristas at the top of the Spanish Socialist Party wanted to increase their influence within it by increasing

2600-646: A village in the French Basque Country , on December 1, 2007—. The government's response was to resume police and judicial pressure against ETA and Batasuna: Batasuna's leadership was arrested and imprisoned, including its main leader, Arnaldo Otegi ; ETA member José Ignacio de Juana Chaos lost his reduced prison status and returned to prison; the process of outlawing the Communist Party of the Basque Country —which had managed to run in

2730-597: 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. He has declared that the only activity that attracts him besides politics is teaching or, at most, academic research. 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

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2860-532: A year later, on March 22, 2006, ETA announced a "permanent ceasefire" and said it would talk to the government about ending the violence if, in parallel, a "table of parties" was formed, including the illegalized Batasuna , in which the "political" issues of the "conflict" would be discussed. The PP's response was to accuse the government of unilaterally breaking the Anti-Terrorist Pact of 2000, and subsequently to subject it to intense harassment both in

2990-552: 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. 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. Among the main actions taken by the Zapatero administration were the withdrawal of Spanish troops from

3120-481: Is an agnostic. 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". After graduating, Zapatero worked as a teaching assistant in constitutional law at the University of León until 1986 (he continued working some hours

3250-468: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Governments of Rodr%C3%ADguez Zapatero On Thursday, March 11, 2004, three days before the general elections , ten bombs exploded in four commuter trains in Madrid , killing 191 people and injuring more than 1,500. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Spanish and European history and caused political parties to suspend their election campaigns. ETA

3380-404: Is essential.) Bono was deeply disliked by the guerristas , who also favoured Zapatero. Zapatero finally won by a relatively small margin (he obtained 414 votes out of 995 and José Bono obtained 405) on 22 July 2000. The margin was relatively small because Bono had no likelihood of winning since the supporters of the other two candidates preferred Zapatero as their second choice. Zapatero accepted

3510-626: The -ismo suffix , equivalent to the English "-ism"), which would refer to the growing enmity of right and left-wing factions. Zapatero's criticisms of the government were very active from the beginning, blaming the government for its inability to control the rise in the price of fossil fuel and asking for a reduction in the corresponding taxes. In 2000, the British nuclear submarine HMS  Tireless arrived at Gibraltar harbour to have its nuclear reactor repaired. Aznar affirmed that there

3640-644: The Basque regional elections of April 2005, capturing Batasuna's votes—and the Basque Nationalist Action —which had managed to field candidates in half of the Basque and Navarrese municipalities in the municipal and regional elections of May 2007 , despite suspicions that Batasuna was behind it. In response, ETA assassinated a former Socialist councilman from the Gipuzkoan city of Mondragón on

3770-749: The Catalan elections of November 2010 , in which the Catalan Socialist Party lost nine seats and the tripartite government that had governed Catalonia since 2003 was ousted by the CiU with the support of the People's Party—the Convergence candidate, Artur Mas , replaced the Socialist José Montilla as president of Catalonia. From then on, PSOE leaders began pressuring Rodríguez Zapatero to announce whether he would run in

3900-464: 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 . At that time the Socialist Party was rebuilding its infrastructure in the province of León after having been outlawed following

4030-763: The ECB and the European Commission , which are not subject to any democratic control. Another factor explaining the political crisis was the corruption scandals involving numerous politicians. In 2009, the Gürtel case emerged, affecting the People's Party , especially in the Valencian Community — Generalitat Valenciana President Francisco Camps had to resign in July 2011, just three months after winning

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4160-570: The PP voted against. The first decision of the new Socialist government led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was to order the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, fulfilling his electoral promise. This decision significantly chilled relations with the United States, coming well before the promised June 30 deadline, and was followed by Rodríguez Zapatero's call for other countries with troops in Iraq to withdraw them as well. The abandonment of

4290-524: The PSC , ERC , ICV and CiU ) and 15 votes against (from the PP ). Article 1 of the statute declared that "Catalonia is a nation". It also proposed a new financing system similar to the economic agreements enjoyed by the Basque Country and Navarre , expanded the powers of the Generalitat, which were "shielded" so that the central government could not limit them through "fundamental laws," and proposed

4420-724: The PSOE had won with 164 seats—12 short of an absolute majority—while the PP had 148. A month later, on April 16, the third transfer of power since the restoration of democracy in Spain took place: José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was sworn in as the new prime minister, the fifth since 1977. In Congress, the deputies of his own party, the PSOE, voted for him, along with those of the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya , Izquierda Unida - Iniciativa per Catalunya , Coalición Canaria , Bloque Nacionalista Galego and Chunta Aragonesista . CiU , PNV , EA and Nafarroa Bai abstained, while

4550-631: The Spanish Civil War . 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. 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) ,

4680-462: 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". 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 . He

4810-587: The Sustainable Economy Law , which was approved by the Council of Ministers in November 2009. This "omnibus law" addressed a variety of issues aimed at creating a "growth model that balances economic, social and environmental development in a productive and competitive economy that promotes quality employment, equal opportunities and social cohesion, while ensuring respect for the environment and

4940-603: The law recognizing same-sex marriage , the so-called " express divorce " law (which accelerated divorce proceedings), the Equality Law  [ es ] (which established guarantees to ensure the "parity" of women in public and professional life), and the Historical Memory Law (which recognized the victims of the defeated side in the Spanish Civil War , as the Franco dictatorship had already done for

5070-463: The reformers . Rosa Díez was a Basque politician who was a kind of intermediate option at the time. Zapatero was a dark horse who had against him his inexperience and in favour his image of reform and being the only MP among the candidates. (All the Spanish opposition leaders had been MPs before winning the elections. A very important factor in Spanish politics where electoral campaigns last for only 15 days and to be widely known long before they begin

5200-409: The subprime mortgage crisis in the United States immediately affected Europe, and Spain in particular. Housing prices stopped rising, the construction sector ground to a halt, and this dragged down the broader economy, which began to grow at a slower pace, with a consequent rise in unemployment—which had reached historic lows in June 2007, with the unemployment rate falling below 8%—. The "slowdown", as

5330-470: The victorious side ). The Spanish Catholic Church hierarchy, with the support of Pope John Paul II , who publicly criticized the Zapatero government for promoting secularism and religious indifference, played a prominent role in opposing these reforms. Various Catholic organizations, such as the Family Forum  [ es ] , organized and led numerous massive demonstrations in "defense of

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5460-496: The "Atlanticist" policy of the previous government led by Aznar was accompanied by a closer relationship with Germany and France, the two "old Europe" countries that had led the opposition to the invasion of Iraq , which in turn made it possible to unblock the negotiations on the new Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe . This treaty had been opposed by Aznar and was signed in Rome on October 29, 2004. Zapatero quickly called for

5590-416: The "manipulation" of public opinion in the two days following the 11-M attacks by the PSOE and its allied media. In doing so, the PP implicitly questioned the legitimacy of the new government and demanded the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to identify the perpetrators of the attack. The PSOE agreed, but expanded the scope of the committee to analyze the events from " 11-M " to " 14-M ". During

5720-542: The Congress of Deputies, with the support of the PP, on February 1, 2005, of the Ibarretxe Plan , which proposed the transformation of the Basque Country into a "free state associated" with Spain, Rodríguez Zapatero, without consulting the leader of the PP, Mariano Rajoy , announced his willingness to engage in "dialogue" with ETA to end terrorism, if it demonstrated a clear intention to renounce violence. Almost

5850-702: The Constitution." The concessions made by the government, such as the modification of the course content and the generous agreement to fund the Catholic Church through income taxes, were not enough to quell the Catholic mobilization led by the bishops and driven by COPE Radio (owned by the Church). After months of intense debate, the Catalan Parliament approved the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia on September 30, 2005, with 120 votes in favor (from

5980-615: The Cortes—where Mariano Rajoy even accused Zapatero of "betraying the dead"—and in the streets, supporting a long series of demonstrations against the "surrender" to ETA called by the Association of Victims of Terrorism , which brought hundreds of thousands of people to Madrid. However, the mobilization against the "peace process," as its defenders called it, did not prevent government representatives from establishing contacts with ETA's leadership. It soon became clear that

6110-709: The ECB, backed by Germany, demanded new "structural reforms" from both Italy and Spain. In response, the Rodríguez Zapatero government, with the immediate support of the People's Party , quickly reformed Article 135 of the 1978 Constitution to require the State and the Autonomous Communities "not to incur a structural deficit that exceeds the margins established, where applicable, by the European Union for its Member States." According to Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca , this hasty constitutional reform, without

6240-470: The European Union. However, most of them were undocumented immigrants, so the government decided to carry out a massive "regularization" in 2005 that affected some 700,000 people who obtained residence permits by presenting a work contract. The PP accused the government of creating a "pull effect" of new immigrants hoping to easily obtain legal status in Spain. After the 2005 regularization, which

6370-614: The European context. The main "engine" of economic growth during the boom years was the construction sector, whose growth was boosted by the expansionary monetary policy of the European Central Bank and by decisions taken by the Aznar governments, such as the Land Law of 1998 and tax deduction for home purchases. The Zapatero government continued these policies, maintaining the tax deductions on housing and only reforming

6500-590: The Generalitat of Catalonia, thanks to a new tripartite agreement, and ERC leader Josep Lluís Carod Rovira was appointed vice-president. For its part, the Partido Popular , which had also campaigned for a NO vote in the referendum (albeit for reasons diametrically opposed to those of the ERC), filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court  [ es ] . Shortly after the rejection by

6630-544: The German bond , the benchmark instrument, even though Spain's public debt represented only 20% of total debt —with healthy accounts until 2007—while the remaining 80% was held by households and companies. Creditor countries in the eurozone, led by Germany and supported by the European Central Bank , the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund , imposed cuts in public spending to reduce

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6760-521: 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 . José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

6890-402: The Land Law in 2007. The housing boom—which peaked in 2006 with the launch of nearly 800,000 new homes—was driven by demand, but much of it resulted from speculative investments in "bricks," as people bought homes not to live in them but to invest their savings, hoping to sell later at a higher price. This fueled the " Spanish housing bubble ". However, in the summer of 2007, the outbreak of

7020-636: The PP government. In October 2007, the National Court ruled that the 11-M perpetrators were the radical Islamists who committed suicide in an apartment in Leganés a month after the attack, when the police had them completely surrounded. The Rodríguez Zapatero government introduced a series of legal reforms in Parliament to extend the rights of citizens. Some of these reforms met with significant opposition from conservative sectors, particularly

7150-605: The PP, supported and encouraged by the conservative media, held events and demonstrations "in defense of Spain". Thus began a tough debate in the Cortes Generales to remove the clearly unconstitutional elements from the Catalan Parliament's proposal. However, one of the partners of the tripartite Catalan government, the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), opposed the "cuts". As a result, Rodríguez Zapatero decided to negotiate directly with Artur Mas ,

7280-614: The PSOE came to power, it found an economy in full expansion, which had begun in the mid-1990s. The cycle of expansion continued throughout most of its term, with better results in some areas than during the "Aznar era". The government tried to base growth on increasing productivity, which had stagnated during the Aznar governments, but the National Reform Plan approved in 2005, which increased investment in R&;D , did not have

7410-431: The PSOE gained almost two percentage points more than in 2004 thanks to "a significant activation of the left-wing vote". The PP , for its part, grew in votes—more than 10 million—and seats (158), but failed to achieve its goal of ousting Rodríguez Zapatero from power, leading to a challenge to Mariano Rajoy 's leadership and an internal crisis that was only resolved at the party's June congress in Valencia , where Rajoy

7540-408: 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

7670-494: 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". Zapatero and his family had been traditionally attracted to

7800-440: The PSOE since its creation and was now to be led by the PP's general secretary, María Dolores de Cospedal . Another emblematic government won by the PP was in Extremadura , this time thanks to the abstention of the Izquierda Unida , which refused to support the Socialist candidate. Following the municipal and regional elections, the PSOE began the primary process to allow party members to choose their presidential candidate for

7930-414: The PSOE's "special way of the cross" began in March 2009 with the elections to the Galician and Basque parliaments. Although in the Basque Country the socialist Patxi López became lehendakari— thanks to the support of PP deputies—, in Galicia the People's Party, led by Alberto Núñez Feijoo , won an absolute majority, ousting the PSG - BNG coalition that had governed Galicia since 2005. The decline of

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8060-401: The Socialist Party of León. Pasqual Maragall was the only regional leader of the Socialist Party who officially supported him before the Conference was held. Josep Borrell also decided to support him. Zapatero ran against three other opponents ( José Bono , Rosa Díez and Matilde Fernández ). Matilde Fernández was the candidate of the guerristas while José Bono was the candidate of

8190-476: The Socialists and the rise of the People's Party were confirmed in the 2009 European Parliament elections , in which the PP defeated the PSOE for the first time since 2004 in a general election. The decline of the Socialist government's approval rating to historically low levels accelerated after the economic policy change in May 2010. In the following four months alone, Socialist voting intentions fell by four points. The first confirmation of this collapse came in

8320-408: The South East of Spain, one of the richest agricultural regions in the world. The scheme had received support from, among others, 80% of the affected farmers and the Socialist regional governments of regions such as Extremadura , Andalusia or Castilla-La Mancha . Some Socialist politicians also supported it when they were members of the former Socialist government back in the 90s (e.g. José Borrell ,

8450-425: The Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. They were made equal to those of the professional military. The initiative was defended by him in the name of the Parliamentary Socialist Group, proponent of the amendment. On 12 March 2000, the PSOE had lost its second successive election to José María Aznar's People's Party . Zapatero held his seat, but the Socialist Party obtained only 125 seats, 16 fewer than in 1996. The defeat

8580-503: The Spanish Economic Stimulus Plan, known as "Plan E," approved at the end of 2008. However, GDP fell by 3.7% in 2009 and the unemployment rate exceeded 20% of the labor force, although some experts estimate that without the government's stimulus package, GDP would have fallen even more. As a result of increased spending to stimulate demand and falling revenues due to the recession, the public deficit soared, approaching 10% of GDP. Economy and Finance Minister Pedro Solbes then defended

8710-422: The Spanish government to reduce the budget deficit at the European Council meeting on May 9, 2010. Three days later, on May 12, President Rodríguez Zapatero announced to Congress a drastic cut in public spending of 15 billion euros. The "adjustment," aimed at reducing the public deficit to 3% by 2014, included an average 5% cut in public workers' salaries, a freeze on pensions (except for non-contributory pensions),

8840-470: The United States after their main allies, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Jacques Chirac , were replaced by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy , respectively. Moreover, Zapatero's proposal for an Alliance of Civilizations , presented to the United Nations General Assembly in 2004 as an alternative to President Bush 's war on terror , received little international support. The Partido Popular (PP) blamed its electoral defeat on

8970-442: The affected parties (the proponents of the scheme answered back that there was no risk of a serious environmental damage and that in 2003, 14 times more water reached the sea than what was needed annually). The scheme, finally approved by the Government, was canceled by Zapatero soon after becoming prime minister. Zapatero was the main proponent of the "Pacto de las Libertades contra el Terrorismo" ("Anti Terrorist Freedom pact) which

9100-448: The attack, President Rodríguez Zapatero had publicly expressed confidence in the success of the "peace process." The government declared the "peace process" "suspended," although it maintained some last-minute contacts with the leadership of ETA and Batasuna in the following months, until ETA announced the end of the ceasefire on June 4, 2007—the first victims of ETA's new wave of terrorism were two civil guards murdered in Capbreton ,

9230-442: The budget deficit caused by the fall in revenues due to the recession and the stimulus packages to combat it. In Spain, the public deficit had risen to 11.2% of GDP in 2009, mainly due to a 20.5% decline in revenues between 2007 and 2010—mainly due to a decline in corporate tax revenues—which caused the risk premium on Spanish debt to rise to around 200 basis points over German bonds. The European institutions issued an ultimatum to

9360-616: The cancellation of a run-off between himself and Bono because he was sure of his victory after only one ballot and he apparently did not want to humiliate his adversary. After becoming Secretary General, he was congratulated by the French PM Lionel Jospin , by the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and by José María Aznar. He moved to Madrid with his family that year. As a Congressman he had lived from Monday to Thursday in Madrid and

9490-532: The cities of Vigo and Hospitalet de Llobregat among cities with more than 250,000 inhabitants. Of the 13 contested autonomous communities, only Asturias , Navarre and the Canary Islands escaped People's Party control, and of these only Asturias was governed by the PSOE. Perhaps the PP's most significant victory was in Castilla-La Mancha , an autonomous community that had been governed by

9620-434: The committee's meetings, PP spokespersons, led by Eduardo Zaplana, supported the "11-M" version propagated by two media outlets: El Mundo newspaper and COPE radio network. According to this narrative, ETA and the secret services of Morocco and other countries, even Spanish police and agents allied with the PSOE, were involved, supposedly planting false leads in the investigation to blame Islamic terrorism and bring down

9750-463: The construction sector—the Spanish housing bubble also burst—and then in other sectors. As Ignacio Sánchez-Cuena pointed out, "Zapatero and his government were swallowed up by the crisis. The first and hardest hit by unemployment were the diaspora , who often lacked social and family networks that could act as "buffers". Initially, the president avoided using the term "crisis," referring instead to

9880-453: The crisis: all of these are powerful reasons for citizens to feel deeply disappointed in politics". In addition, there was a widespread sense that the crisis had disproportionately affected the most vulnerable and that the distribution of sacrifices was therefore unfair, as well as the perception that governments were powerless against financial powers and supranational institutions such as the IMF ,

10010-649: The current leader of the European Spanish Socialist Group and former president of the European Parliament. The scheme was mainly opposed by Zapatero, environmentalist groups, the Socialist regional government of Aragon and some of the citizens of the areas from which water was to be transferred. The main criticisms of the scheme were the supposed damage to the environment and an argued real lack of sufficient water for all of

10140-460: The difficult economic situation was exacerbated by the outbreak of the European sovereign debt crisis following the announcement of Greece's debt crisis . Soon, the debt of other eurozone countries with significant external deficits like Greece—notably Ireland and southern countries, including Spain—began to be "attacked" in the financial markets, leading to a rise in the " risk premium " over

10270-505: The elections, the economic outlook did not improve; on the contrary, it worsened significantly from September onwards due to the effects of the international crisis triggered by the collapse of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers . Instead of moving toward "full employment," as Rodríguez Zapatero had promised during the campaign, the Spanish economy fell into recession  [ es ] and unemployment skyrocketed, first in

10400-516: The electrical protocol proposed by the government (initially negative for the important coal sector of León), being the PSOE spokesman in the Commission of Public Administration and probably his most important success as an MP: the passing of an amendment to the national budget of 2000 in November 1999 that increased the pensions of the non-professional soldiers who fought for the Republic during

10530-448: The elimination of the baby bonus, a 6 billion euro cut in public investment, and a reduction in benefits under the Law on Dependency  [ es ] . This marked a turn in the economic policy of the socialist government, which believed-or was forced to believe by rising risk premiums— that austerity and " structural adjustment " were the only way out of the crisis. The immediate effect of

10660-516: The eve of the March 2008 elections . "The peace process, which in some respects was not well designed by the government, has not produced the expected results, but it has created the conditions for the Abertzale Left to decide to distance itself from terrorism. The government's willingness to dialogue and its openness to finding solutions showed Basque society that the main obstacle to ending

10790-515: The expected effect and productivity improved only slightly. In addition, the government did not carry out the tax reform it had promised during the election campaign. The spectacular economic growth that began in the mid-1990s was made possible by the presence of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Latin America, the Maghreb, and Eastern Europe, making Spain the main center of immigration in

10920-521: The family" and "religious freedom," with the support of the Partido Popular . The Catholic bishops—as well as the PP—strongly opposed the LOE  [ es ] education reform proposed by the government, especially the introduction of the new Citizenship Education course in schools. They argued that it was an "attack on the morals" of Catholics and promoted a "radical secularism " that did not "respect

11050-512: The financial system, especially the savings banks , and contradicting the government's claims of their strength and health. During the boom years, the savings banks had been the main financiers of construction companies and their clients, so when the Spanish real estate bubble burst in 2007-2008 , they found that many of the loans they had made would not be repaid, creating a huge hole in their finances. Faced with difficulties, they could no longer turn to external markets as they had done before due to

11180-456: The general VAT rate was raised from 16% to 18%—. In response, the CC OO and UGT unions called a general strike for September 29, 2010 , the first since Zapatero took office. Although the strike received uneven support, it marked the end of the good relations that the two main unions had previously had with the government. However, the "adjustment" policies and "structural reforms" undertaken by

11310-467: The government and the opposition were the proposed reforms affecting the education system. The People's Party first introduced the so-called LOU, a law to change the university system, and later the LOCE ( Organic Act for Education Quality ), which affected secondary education. Zapatero strongly opposed both. The People's Party used its absolute majority in the Cortes to pass its reforms. A regional election

11440-481: The government called the onset of the crisis, was initially accompanied by rising inflation due to the escalation of oil prices, certain raw materials and food costs. Thus, from the fall of 2007, the political debate shifted to the economy, which became the centerpiece of the general election campaign in March 2008. Rodríguez Zapatero promised full employment in the next term, a "political irresponsibility" given that "there

11570-404: The government failed to ease the pressure on public debt, as the risk premium continued to rise. By the summer of 2011, the situation had become untenable, prompting the European Central Bank to intervene by purchasing Spanish and Italian sovereign debt—whose risk premiums had also soared, as had those of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, which had been forced to seek " European bailouts ". In return,

11700-418: The government of "hiding the truth" and demanding to "know the truth before voting," as well as chanting "No to the war." At 8 p.m., Minister Acebes announced the arrest of five Moroccans as suspects in the attacks. The theory that ETA was behind the attacks was definitively ruled out four hours later when the minister appeared again, this time to announce the discovery of a video claiming responsibility, in which

11830-523: The guidelines of the European institutions, which considered them essential to emerge from the crisis. The government approved the labor market reform in September 2010 to make it more "flexible," while trying to avoid lowering dismissal costs, which did not satisfy either unions or employers. Among other measures, it extended fair dismissal , with compensation of 20 days per year worked, to cases where companies face "current or anticipated" losses, and set

11960-415: The ideas of republican political philosopher Philip Pettit . In an interview with El Mundo , Zapatero linked civic republicanism's focus on civic virtue to tolerance of individual autonomy and expanding political participation. During Zapatero's years as an opposition leader (and later as prime minister), the tension between left-wing and right-wing supporters increased and, according to some opinions,

12090-578: The image of the monarchy—its approval rating fell from 5.54 in 2008 to 4.89 in 2011, according to the CIS barometer. The PSOE was also hit by scandals, the most notable being the ERE case in Andalusia  [ es ] , which was investigated in March 2011. The government's approval rating, as well as that of the president and the PSOE, fell in the polls. What García de Cortázar and González Vesga have called

12220-526: The internal fight for the job of Secretary General of the Regional Chapter. In 1994, three regional conferences were held: All of them were finally won by Zapatero or his supporters. The National Conference (held after most of the representatives elected in the first León Conference were Zapatero's supporters) was won by the reformers , at that time strongly opposed to the Guerristas . That

12350-488: The international crisis, which led them to restrict credit, which had a recessionary effect on economic activity, thereby exacerbating the crisis. The savings banks most exposed to real estate were on the verge of bankruptcy, so the Bank of Spain promoted the merger of the most troubled ones with healthier ones to "clean" their balance sheets and "bank" them, privatizing their assets so they were no longer public entities. Thus,

12480-419: The mayoralty of León and two seats in the regional parliament of Castilla-León. The results were influenced by the bad economic situation and the cases of corruption assailing the party. Zapatero had personally directed the electoral campaign. In 1996, after the General Election, Zapatero kept his seat at the Congress of Deputies. The following year, Zapatero was again elected Secretary General of León and after

12610-621: The national conference held by the party that year he entered the National Executive (the party's governing body). The Association of Parliamentary Journalists awarded to Zapatero the "Diputado Revelación" prize (something like Most promising MP of the year ) in December 1999 for his activities as a member of the Congress of Deputies . From 1996 until 2000, his most conspicuous contributions as an MP were his vigorous opposition to

12740-480: The necessary public debate, "was Zapatero's most questionable decision during his presidency. The general perception of the Rodríguez Zapatero government's economic management during the "crisis legislature" was that it had failed, although it had avoided a bailout. This perception was crucial to the People's Party's overwhelming victory in the November 2011 general elections . The deep economic crisis turned into

12870-463: The need for adjustment measures to restore public finances, but President Rodríguez Zapatero disagreed, leading to Solbes' departure from the government in the April 7, 2009 cabinet reshuffle, with Elena Salgado taking his place. By this time, unemployment had passed the four million mark. Zapatero also initially resisted the introduction of labor market "flexibility" measures demanded by business leaders and certain liberal groups. Instead, he proposed

13000-424: The new "adjustment" policy—also called "fiscal consolidation"—was to stifle the nascent recovery, leading to economic stagnation and ultimately a new recession  [ es ] at the end of 2011, with rising unemployment. Although Zapatero avoided a bailout, unlike Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the change in economic policy direction "would have a significant impact on the image of Zapatero's government, which

13130-406: The next day-the largest in Spain's history, with an estimated 11 million people taking to the streets on Friday, March 12-where some participants chanted "Who did it?" and "We want the truth," while others shouted "ETA murders." On Saturday, March 13, the day of reflection before the elections, thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the Partido Popular headquarters in major cities, accusing

13260-438: The next general election. On April 2, 2011, a month and a half before the municipal and regional elections, Zapatero announced that he would not be the party's candidate in the upcoming elections. However, Zapatero's withdrawal did not prevent the socialist collapse, as the PSOE fell 10 points behind the People's Party. The PP took control of the government in 34 provincial capitals, while the PSOE retained only nine, as well as

13390-664: The number of members in the towns of León favorable to them. Their main aim would have been to take control of the Regional Socialist Section of Castilla y León in the conference to be held in 1994. Zapatero's support for the then Regional Secretary General, Jesús Quijano transformed him into the enemy of the Guerristas in the region as the FSL is the most important Provincial Section. In May 1994 two papers, El País and Diario de León , published several articles that suggested irregularities in his appointment as

13520-456: The number of savings banks fell from 45 before the crisis to 15 in 2010, but the state had to provide public funds through the FROB to organize some of them and make the mergers possible. The most significant merger was between CajaMadrid  [ es ] and Valencia's Bancaja  [ es ] , which created Bankia , the country's third largest financial institution. In early 2010,

13650-510: The paradox that the ERC, one of the proponents of the Statute, called for a NO vote in the referendum held in Catalonia on June 18, 2006 to approve the new Statute. This led to the dissolution of the tripartite government and the calling of new elections for November 1, 2006. Pasqual Maragall, forced to resign by his party, did not run. The Socialist José Montilla would become the new president of

13780-457: The provincial conference held that year, Ramón Rubial , then national president of the PSOE, had asked the party in León to foster unity. Zapatero was elected as Secretary General at that conference, leading to a period of stability. In the 1980s and 1990s, the PSOE consisted of two factions: the Guerristas (supporters of Alfonso Guerra , former vice-president under Felipe González) and the reformers (led by Felipe González). The first group had

13910-485: The rational use of natural resources." However, the bill had little public impact, except for the section known as the " Sinde Law ," which established the digital tax , and its legislative process was extremely slow, not passing until March 4, 2011. A month before Solbes' resignation, the Bank of Spain intervened in Caja Castilla-La Mancha , which was technically bankrupt, exposing the fragility of

14040-683: The regional elections again, although he was later acquitted by a popular jury—and the Community of Madrid . A year earlier, the investigation of the Palma Arena case had begun, involving the Balearic PP and implicating the former president of the Balearic Islands , Jaume Matas . This case eventually led to the indictment of the king's son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarín , in 2011, which had an enormous media impact and severely damaged

14170-463: The rest of the time in León. This was the period when Zapatero was appointed as Secretary General of the PSOE in 2000 until he became Prime Minister of Spain on 14 April 2004. Zapatero has always claimed to base his political activity on his love of dialogue. When he was an opposition leader, he liked to contrast his behaviour with the "arrogant", "authoritarian" approach of the People's Party and, especially, that of its leader José María Aznar. As

14300-435: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Zapatero government . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zapatero_government&oldid=1252891065 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

14430-526: The term talante has become very popular in Spain.) Because of this supposed tactic, Zapatero received nicknames like Bambi or Sosoman (where Soso , meaning "dull, insipid, bore", replaces Super in Superman ), especially in the first months after being appointed General Secretary. After his election to the leadership of the PSOE, Zapatero spoke about the influence of the political philosophy of civic republicanism on him in general, and in particular

14560-577: The terrorist group was not willing to lay down its arms without achieving its "political" objectives —recognition of the " right to self-determination " of Euskal Herria , which includes Navarre —.To put pressure on the government, ETA intensified its street violence ( kale borroka ) and finally, on December 30, 2006, detonated a powerful bomb in the T-4 terminal of the Barajas airport , killing two people and causing considerable material damage. The day before

14690-647: The upcoming general elections. Vice President Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba and Defense Minister Carme Chacón both ran, but Chacón withdrew when "a dark and disturbing operation" was launched to suspend the primaries and recognize Rubalcaba as the candidate. However, "in light of the [disastrous] results of November 20 , it seems that Rubalcaba's leadership failed to mitigate the traumatic and unqualified defeat that occurred that day." Sánchez-Cuenca 2012 , p. 101 Jos%C3%A9 Luis Rodr%C3%ADguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero ( Spanish: [xoseˈlwis roˈðɾiɣeθ θapaˈteɾo] ; born 4 August 1960)

14820-399: The violence was ETA's intransigence, not that of the state. ETA broke the ceasefire and launched a new wave of violence, albeit much more limited than that of 2000-2003. The security forces were very effective in dismantling the cells: ETA, severely weakened, had no choice but to follow the peaceful approach of the political wing and withdraw from the scene, putting an end to terrorism". When

14950-486: The votes of his party, the only time this has happened in Spanish democracy. The PP voted against him, as did the three deputies of the ERC, his former ally, and the deputy of the new Union, Progress and Democracy party, Rosa Díez —an ex-Socialist leader who left the PSOE because of her total disagreement with Rodríguez Zapatero's territorial and anti-terrorist policies. CiU (10 deputies), PNV (6), Coalición Canaria (2), BNG (2) and Nafarroa Bai (1) abstained. After

15080-748: Was a conservative and died at age 103. 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. He says that his family taught him to be tolerant, thoughtful, prudent and austere. The memory of Zapatero's grandfather

15210-483: Was already a certain consensus that the international economic situation would face difficulties, and therefore many expected that the employment outlook would not be as promising as in previous years. The PSOE repeated its 2004 victory in the March 2008 general elections , obtaining more than 11 million votes and gaining 5 seats more than in 2004 (169 in total), although it did not obtain an absolute majority. According to political scientist Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca ,

15340-416: Was already damaged by its erratic handling of the economic crisis and is now severely damaged". The adjustment policy was accompanied by the reform of the savings banks—which were the most indebted credit institutions as a result of the bursting of the "real estate bubble"—and the introduction of three major "structural reforms" related to the labor market , pensions , and collective bargaining , following

15470-468: Was also criticized by the European Union for its lack of consultation, the government tightened its immigration policy to prevent new "illegals" from entering the country. Integrating the four million immigrants who had arrived in Spain in the previous 10 years—with foreigners now accounting for nearly 10 percent of the population—was a major challenge for Spanish society. However, there were no serious racist or xenophobic incidents, making Spain an exception in

15600-415: 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

15730-612: 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. 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

15860-425: Was especially bitter as the People's Party unexpectedly obtained an absolute majority for the first time and the socialist result was worse than in the previous election. Almunia announced his resignation on the very day the General Election took place. Zapatero decided to run for the leadership of the Socialist Party in its 35th Conference to be held in June that year. Together with other socialist members, he founded

15990-462: Was executed by Francisco Franco 's Nationalist forces a month into the Spanish Civil War , for refusing to fight with them. His whereabouts were revealed by fascists in Valladolid. 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)

16120-487: Was held in the Basque Country on 13 May 2001. The socialists received 17.8% of the vote (against 17.6% in the previous 1998 elections) but lost one seat. Both, the Socialist Party and the People's Party had formed an alliance against the then ruling nationalist Basque political movements but the latter won again. The results were considered a failure. Nicolás Redondo Terreros , the Basque Socialist leader during

16250-504: Was initially thought to be responsible, a suspicion confirmed a few hours later by Interior Minister Ángel Acebes . However, the police investigation soon pointed to Islamist terrorism linked to al-Qaeda —responsible for the September 11 attacks —although the government maintained that the main hypothesis was still ETA. The confusion over the perpetrators of the attack was evident in the massive anti-terrorism demonstrations that took place

16380-515: Was no risk for the population but Zapatero criticized him for his inability to force the British government to take the submarine to another harbour. After almost one year, the Tireless was repaired and left Gibraltar without having caused any known problems. Another point of friction came from the scheme to transfer water from the River Ebro to other areas, especially the irrigated areas in

16510-471: Was number one on the list. In the elections of 2004 he ran for Madrid as number one. Zapatero defined himself as a "left-wing conservative" at the time. He explained that he meant that, for sentimental reasons linked to his family, he came from the left that lost the Spanish Civil War and that what had happened between 1936 and 1939 (the duration of the war) and 1939–1975 ( Franco 's regime) had

16640-420: Was positive for Zapatero as the list of bogus party members was revised again. Their number grew from 577 to almost 900. Zapatero was finally reelected secretary general with 68% of the ballots in the 7th Regional Conference held in July 1994, following the removal of the false memberships. In 1995, new regional and local elections were held. The results were bad for the PSOE in León as they lost four seats in

16770-464: Was re-elected to lead a renewed PP. Similar crises affected the other two losers in the elections: Izquierda Unida (which ended up with only two seats) and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (which dropped from 8 to 3 seats). This time, Rodríguez Zapatero chose not to negotiate for support to secure his investiture as President of the Government, and was thus elected on April 11, 2008, with only

16900-453: Was signed on 8 December 2000. At the end of the year, the Mad Cow disease came back into the spotlight after its outbreak in 1996. Zapatero repeatedly criticized the Government's management of the crisis arguing that it was out of control. As of March 2005, the disease had caused dozens of deaths all over Europe, though none in Spain. In 2001 one of the biggest points of friction between

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