Esperanza Aguirre
Encyclopedia
Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma, Countess of Murillo, Grandee of Spain, DBE (born 3 January 1952) is a Spanish politician and the current President of Madrid. She is President of Madrid's People's Party
and the first female politician in Spain to have held the office of President of the Senate
and Minister of Education and Culture in Spanish democratic history.
A former member of Unión Liberal, Partido Liberal and Popular Alliance
, which changed its name to Partido Popular
(People's Party) in 1989. Since her early years she has been a member of the Club Liberal of Madrid, which was presided over by an economics professor at the Complutense University
, Pedro Schwartz. Schwartz reportedly played an important role in the beginnings of Mrs. Aguirre's political career: in 1983, he was the one to convince her, by then a civil servant, to stand in the Madrid local elections of that year for Schwartz's Liberal Union and become a councilwoman.
, being the eldest daughter of José Luis Aguirre Borrell, a lawyer, and Piedad Gil de Biedma y Vega de Seoane, daughter of José Gil de Biedma, 3rd Count of Sepúlveda. She is a niece of the late Catalan
poet, Jaime Gil de Biedma
. She studied in the "La Asunción" School and in the British Council School of Madrid and earned a degree in Law
in Complutense University (Madrid) in 1974. She is fluent in English
and French
.
In 1980 she was appointed to be Deputy General Director of Studies of the Technical General Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture. In 1981, she was appointed to be Deputy General Director in the Advisory Staff of the Secretary of State of Culture. Her last position with the Administration was as Deputy General Director of Cultural Associations.
City Council as a member of Coalición Popular. While in opposition, she was a member of the Standing Committee of the City Council, a CP spokeswoman on the areas of Culture, Education, Youth and Sports Affairs, and the Moncloa district. When Unión Liberal merged with Partido Liberal, in December 1984, she held different positions in the National Executive and the Political Council of José Antonio Segurado's Partido Liberal.
In 1987 she left the Partido Liberal and joined Popular Alliance
, which later became the People's Party
. She was subsequently reelected to the city council, and continued in opposition until 1989, when a successful vote of no confidence ousted the socialist
mayor Juan Barranco; allowing the People's Party and Democratic and Social Centre to rule Madrid for the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1977. In the new local executive, she was designated head of the Department of the Environment.
In 1991 the People's Party under José María Álvarez del Manzano
won a council majority and Esperanza Aguirre was again appointed to the Environment Department. Two years later, she was designated as Head of the Culture Department and controlled the areas of Sports, Education and Hygiene. In 1995 she became the spokeswoman of People's Party in Madrid City Council and was appointed by the City Council to the Caja Madrid
Board of Governors.
, José María Aznar
, appointed her to be Minister of Education, Culture and Sports. She was succeeded in those posts in 1999 by Mariano Rajoy
.
During this period she became very famous because of sense of humour.
elections of 2003, being substituted as President of the Senate by Juan José Lucas.
, being the only party of the right in the Assembly, While on the left PSOE won 47 seats and United Left
won 9 seats, thus making it possible for a coalition of PSOE and IU to rule.
However, the election of a leftist coalition was not possible due to two dissenting deputies of the PSOE, Eduardo Tamayo and María Teresa Sáez, who refused to obey the party whip in the first two votes, the election of the speaker, and the election of the president.
Most leftist politicians and several media organs accused Tamayo and Sáez of being bribed into breaking their party discipline by prominent members of PP, following accusations that the hotel rooms they were hiding in had been paid for by businessmen from the construction industry with links to the PP. This theory was dismissed after a parliament
ary investigation and was never proven.
Her most important achievements in these years were the reduction of surgery waiting times, the building of 8 new hospitals, 87 new state schools (most of them bilingual), an increase in the investment for several scholarships of education and the expansion of the Underground to suburban areas, like Pozuelo de Alarcón
.
on 26 November 2008, but managed to escape unharmed.
, Grandee of Spain, elder son of Ignacio Ramírez de Haro, 15th Count of Bornos
, Grandee of Spain, and his wife Beatriz Valdés, 4th Marquise of Casa Valdés. They have two sons:
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
and the first female politician in Spain to have held the office of President of the Senate
Spanish Senate
The Senate of Spain is the upper house of Spain's parliament, the . It is made up of 264 members: 208 elected by popular vote, and 56 appointed by the regional legislatures. All senators serve four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time.The last election...
and Minister of Education and Culture in Spanish democratic history.
A former member of Unión Liberal, Partido Liberal and Popular Alliance
Popular Alliance (Spain)
The People's Alliance was a electoral coalition, and later a political party, founded in 1976 by Manuel Fraga along with six other former Francoist ministers.- History :...
, which changed its name to Partido Popular
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
(People's Party) in 1989. Since her early years she has been a member of the Club Liberal of Madrid, which was presided over by an economics professor at the Complutense University
Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid is a university in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of...
, Pedro Schwartz. Schwartz reportedly played an important role in the beginnings of Mrs. Aguirre's political career: in 1983, he was the one to convince her, by then a civil servant, to stand in the Madrid local elections of that year for Schwartz's Liberal Union and become a councilwoman.
Early years (1952-1974)
She was born in Madrid into a family Spanish nobilitySpanish nobility
Spanish nobles are persons who possess the legal status of hereditary nobility according to the laws and traditions of the Spanish monarchy. A system of titles and honours of Spain and of the former kingdoms that constitute it comprise the Spanish nobility...
, being the eldest daughter of José Luis Aguirre Borrell, a lawyer, and Piedad Gil de Biedma y Vega de Seoane, daughter of José Gil de Biedma, 3rd Count of Sepúlveda. She is a niece of the late Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
poet, Jaime Gil de Biedma
Jaime Gil de Biedma
Jaime Gil de Biedma y Alba was a Spanish post-Civil War poet.He was born in Nava de la Asunción on November 13, 1929. He stopped writing poetry some ten years before his death...
. She studied in the "La Asunción" School and in the British Council School of Madrid and earned a degree in Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
in Complutense University (Madrid) in 1974. She is fluent in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
Administrative career (1974-1982)
In 1976 she joined the Technical Division of the Ministry of Information and Tourism as a civil servant. She was head of the Department of Publicity and Tourism, where she remained until 1979. Subsequently she had many different jobs in the Ministry of Culture, serving several Ministers during the Democratic Centre Union governments; especially designated by the Prime Minister himself. In 1979, she was chief of staff of the General Director of Literature and Cinematography.In 1980 she was appointed to be Deputy General Director of Studies of the Technical General Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture. In 1981, she was appointed to be Deputy General Director in the Advisory Staff of the Secretary of State of Culture. Her last position with the Administration was as Deputy General Director of Cultural Associations.
Councillor of Madrid (1983-1996)
Esperanza Aguirre first became a councillor with the defunct Coalición Popular, in which she was a member of the smaller Unión Liberal. Between 1983 and 1986 she held a seat on MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
City Council as a member of Coalición Popular. While in opposition, she was a member of the Standing Committee of the City Council, a CP spokeswoman on the areas of Culture, Education, Youth and Sports Affairs, and the Moncloa district. When Unión Liberal merged with Partido Liberal, in December 1984, she held different positions in the National Executive and the Political Council of José Antonio Segurado's Partido Liberal.
In 1987 she left the Partido Liberal and joined Popular Alliance
Popular Alliance (Spain)
The People's Alliance was a electoral coalition, and later a political party, founded in 1976 by Manuel Fraga along with six other former Francoist ministers.- History :...
, which later became the People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
. She was subsequently reelected to the city council, and continued in opposition until 1989, when a successful vote of no confidence ousted the socialist
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...
mayor Juan Barranco; allowing the People's Party and Democratic and Social Centre to rule Madrid for the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1977. In the new local executive, she was designated head of the Department of the Environment.
In 1991 the People's Party under José María Álvarez del Manzano
José María Álvarez del Manzano
José María Álvarez del Manzano y López del Hierro is a Spanish politician for the People's Party. Although born in Seville he has lived in Madrid since he was 3 years old. He studied at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo. He was the mayor of Madrid from 1991 to 2003...
won a council majority and Esperanza Aguirre was again appointed to the Environment Department. Two years later, she was designated as Head of the Culture Department and controlled the areas of Sports, Education and Hygiene. In 1995 she became the spokeswoman of People's Party in Madrid City Council and was appointed by the City Council to the Caja Madrid
Caja Madrid
Caja Madrid, formally the Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Madrid, headquartered in Madrid, is the oldest of the Spanish savings banks. It was founded on December 3, 1702 as Monte de Piedad de Madrid by Francisco Piquer, an Aragonese priest...
Board of Governors.
Minister of Education, Culture and Sports (1996-1999)
In the general election of 1996 she was the candidate for the Senate for Madrid of the People's Party, after her designation as a member of the National Executive Committee of the Party; and she became a senator. The then new PresidentPresident of Spain
Today, Spain is a constitutional monarchy. King Juan Carlos I, the current monarch, is Head of State. The Head of Government has the official title of President of the Government....
, José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
, appointed her to be Minister of Education, Culture and Sports. She was succeeded in those posts in 1999 by Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy Brey is a Spanish People's Party politician and is the Prime Minister-elect since 20 November 2011. He will be sworn into office in mid-December 2011....
.
During this period she became very famous because of sense of humour.
President of the Senate (1999-2002)
Aguirre, a Senator since 1996, was elected President of the Senate in February 1999, the first woman to do so. In March 2000, she was re-elected Senator for Madrid, becoming the top-voted candidate in Spain with 1.55 million votes and 50.7% of the popular vote, a percentage record still unbroken. In 2002 she resigned in order to run for the Presidency of the Autonomous Community of Madrid in the regional AssemblyMadrid Assembly
The Madrid Assembly is the unicameral regional legislature of the Autonomous Community of Madrid since the approval of the Madrid Charter of Autonomy in 1983....
elections of 2003, being substituted as President of the Senate by Juan José Lucas.
President of the Community of Madrid (2003-)
First regional elections of 2003 and the dissenting deputies of PSOE
When the regional elections took place in May 2003, the People's Party won a plurality of seats. The People's Party won 55 seats in the Madrid AssemblyMadrid Assembly
The Madrid Assembly is the unicameral regional legislature of the Autonomous Community of Madrid since the approval of the Madrid Charter of Autonomy in 1983....
, being the only party of the right in the Assembly, While on the left PSOE won 47 seats and United Left
United Left (Spain)
The United Left is a political coalition that was organized in 1986 bringing together several political organisations opposed to Spain joining NATO. It was formed by a number of groups of leftists, greens, left-wing socialists and republicans, but was dominated by the Communist Party of Spain...
won 9 seats, thus making it possible for a coalition of PSOE and IU to rule.
However, the election of a leftist coalition was not possible due to two dissenting deputies of the PSOE, Eduardo Tamayo and María Teresa Sáez, who refused to obey the party whip in the first two votes, the election of the speaker, and the election of the president.
Most leftist politicians and several media organs accused Tamayo and Sáez of being bribed into breaking their party discipline by prominent members of PP, following accusations that the hotel rooms they were hiding in had been paid for by businessmen from the construction industry with links to the PP. This theory was dismissed after a parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
ary investigation and was never proven.
Second regional elections of 2003
In October 2003, following the scandal concerning the dissenting deputies, the regional elections were rerun. The People's Party won a majority of seats enabling Esperanza Aguirre to became the President of the Community Madrid.Her most important achievements in these years were the reduction of surgery waiting times, the building of 8 new hospitals, 87 new state schools (most of them bilingual), an increase in the investment for several scholarships of education and the expansion of the Underground to suburban areas, like Pozuelo de Alarcón
Pozuelo de Alarcón
Pozuelo de Alarcón is a suburb of over 85,000 inhabitants near the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. It is surrounded by large Mediterranean pine-tree forests: la Casa de Campo, el Monte del Pardo and el Monte del Pilar...
.
Damehood
In February 2004, Esperanza Aguirre was appointed Honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She is the first Spanish woman to date to have been awarded this honour.Mumbai
She was one of the many civilians trapped in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
on 26 November 2008, but managed to escape unharmed.
Family
Aguirre married in Madrid, on 1 January 1974, Fernando Ramírez de Haro, 15th Count of MurilloFernando Ramírez de Haro, 15th Count of Murillo
Don Fernando Ramírez de Haro y Valdés, 15th Count of Murillo, Grandee of Spain, Kinght of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla is a Spanish noble and landowner. Born in Madrid, Murillo is the elder son of the late Ignacio Ramírez de Haro, 15th Count of Bornos, Grandee of Spain , and his...
, Grandee of Spain, elder son of Ignacio Ramírez de Haro, 15th Count of Bornos
Ignacio Ramírez de Haro, 15th Count of Bornos
Don Ignacio Fernando Ramírez de Haro y Pérez de Guzmán, 15th Count of Bornos, Grandee of Spain was a Spanish nobleman and the husband of Beatriz Valdés, 4th Marquise of Casa Valdés...
, Grandee of Spain, and his wife Beatriz Valdés, 4th Marquise of Casa Valdés. They have two sons:
- Fernando Ramírez de Haro, 10th Marquis of Villanueva del DueroFernando Ramírez de Haro, 10th Marquis of Villanueva del DueroDon Fernando Ramírez de Haro y Aguirre, 10th Marquis of Villanueva del Duergo, Grandee of Spain is a Spanish aristocrat. Born in Madrid, he is the eldest son of Fernando Ramírez de Haro, 15th Count of Murillo, Grandee of Spain, and his wife Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma, prominent conservative...
, Grandee of Spain, (b. 23 August 1976).
- Álvaro Ramírez de Haro, 16th Count of Villariezo, (b. 4 April 1980).