Manuel Fraga Iribarne
Encyclopedia
Manuel Fraga Iribarne is a Spanish
People's Party
politician. Fraga's career as one of the key political figures in Spain straddles both General Francisco Franco
's dictatorial regime and the subsequent transition to democracy. He served as the President of the Xunta of Galicia
from 1990 to 2005. Currently a Senator
, he is one of the few Honoris Causa Doctor
s of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon.
, Lugo Province, Galicia. Trained in law
, economics
and political science
, he began his political career in 1945, during Francisco Franco's dictatorship.
Between 1962 and 1969 he served as Minister for Information and Tourism, and played a major role in the revitalization of Spanish tourist industry
, leading a campaign under the slogan Spain is different!, which nowadays is a common phrase to joke about Spanish lousy mentality. On March 8, 1966 he dispelled fears of a nuclear accident after the Palomares hydrogen bombs incident by swimming in the contaminated water with the American ambassador, Angier Biddle Duke
. He also introduced an a posteriori censorship
law, which was based on lifting pre-publication censorship and a reduction in its strictness.
A certain sexual liberality in films was popularly summarized in the expression Con Fraga hasta la braga ("With Fraga [you can see] even the panties").
, which ended with Franco's death (1975), Manuel Fraga was appointed vice president and Interior Minister
(Ministro de Gobernación) in 1976, under Carlos Arias Navarro
's government, the first with Juan Carlos I
as chief of state. Until that moment, Fraga was known as a heavy-handed politician, though also seen as one of the reformers seeking a liberalisation
from within the regime, but the drastic measures he took as chief of state security during the first days of the Spanish transition to democracy
deeply damaged his popularity. The phrase "¡La calle es mía!" ("The streets are mine!") was attributed to him. This phrase was his answer to complaints of police repression of street protests. He claimed that the streets did not belong to "people" but to the State. He is a known admirer of Canovas del Castillo.
approved in 1978. Along with other former members of Franco's regime, he soon founded the People's Alliance
(Alianza Popular - AP), and became its president. The party fared poorly in its first years, but after the 1982 crisis and breakup of the Democratic Center Union, the moderate-conservative party which had won the first two democratic presidential elections, AP became the second party in Spain, and Fraga was considered Leader of the Opposition
to the Socialist government. Nevertheless, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party was enjoying great popularity and an absolute majority winning streak (in the 1982, 1986, and 1989 elections), as AP and its president were generally viewed as too reactionary
to be an alternative. Following this critical development, Fraga resigned the presidency of the party in 1986.
(Partido Popular - PP). Later in the same year, Fraga encouraged the election of José María Aznar
as the party's new president. Fraga was then appointed as honorary president of the PP.
(PPdeG) which had won a one seat majority in the election. He remained in charge for almost 15 years until the PPdeG lost its overall majority in the Galician election of 2005. Fraga saw his credibility damaged in late 2002, when an oil tanker ship called Prestige sank near the Galician coast causing a massive oil spill that affected the shoreline in the northwest of the region. Fraga was said to be slow to react and unable, or even unwilling, to handle the situation. In 2004, a power struggle between factions of PPdeG further hurt the party's image. Subsequently, in the autonomous elections of 2005, Fraga and the PPdeG lost their absolute majority in the Parliament of Galicia
, and despite obtaining elections with a 45% plurality, a left government coalition between the Socialist Party of Galicia
(PSdeG) and the Galician Nationalist Bloc was formed with socialist Emilio Pérez Touriño
as the new president. Fraga remains in the political scene out of Galicia, as member of the Senate representing the Parliament of Galicia
. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, a member of the Galician Popular Party, has been the PPdG head since late 2005.
Fraga was again chosen as a Senator by the Parliament of Galicia in 2008.
To his supporters, Fraga was a Galician hero who throughout his rule, modernised Galicia and built up a fair level of tourism to the region. He built great roads and motorways and in 2000, he approved the Galician Plan to build Spain's first high speed bullet train. However to his opponents he was an authoritarian relic of the Franco era who failed to lift Galicia and its people out of poverty and unemployment.
Despite their political differences, he maintains a friendship with Fidel Castro
, himself of Galician descent.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
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...
politician. Fraga's career as one of the key political figures in Spain straddles both General Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's dictatorial regime and the subsequent transition to democracy. He served as the President of the Xunta of Galicia
President of the Xunta of Galicia
The President of the Xunta of Galicia , usually known in English as the Galician regional president, is the head of government of Galicia. The president leads the executive branch of the regional government....
from 1990 to 2005. Currently a Senator
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...
, he is one of the few Honoris Causa Doctor
Doctor (title)
Doctor, as a title, originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb docēre . It has been used as an honored academic title for over a millennium in Europe, where it dates back to the rise of the university. This use spread...
s of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon.
Political career
Fraga was born in VilalbaVilalba
Vilalba, is a municipality in Galicia , specifically in the province of Lugo.- Journalistic Tradition :Villalba had during the 20th century a rich journalistic tradition that began in 1902 with the Ideal Villalbés, a newspaper handwritten by the poet and journalist Antonio García Hermida...
, Lugo Province, Galicia. Trained 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...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
, he began his political career in 1945, during Francisco Franco's dictatorship.
Between 1962 and 1969 he served as Minister for Information and Tourism, and played a major role in the revitalization of Spanish tourist industry
Tourism in Spain
Tourism in Spain was developed during the last years of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, when the country became a popular place for summer holidays, especially for tourists from the British Isles, France, Central Europe and Scandinavia. In 2007, Spain became the second most visited country of the...
, leading a campaign under the slogan Spain is different!, which nowadays is a common phrase to joke about Spanish lousy mentality. On March 8, 1966 he dispelled fears of a nuclear accident after the Palomares hydrogen bombs incident by swimming in the contaminated water with the American ambassador, Angier Biddle Duke
Angier Biddle Duke
Angier Biddle Duke had a career which included being a diplomat in the United States foreign service.-Biography:Angier Biddle Duke was born November 30, 1915 in New York City....
. He also introduced an a posteriori censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
law, which was based on lifting pre-publication censorship and a reduction in its strictness.
A certain sexual liberality in films was popularly summarized in the expression Con Fraga hasta la braga ("With Fraga [you can see] even the panties").
The First Government of the Monarchy
After a brief period as Spain's ambassador in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, which ended with Franco's death (1975), Manuel Fraga was appointed vice president and Interior Minister
Interior minister
An interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs...
(Ministro de Gobernación) in 1976, under Carlos Arias Navarro
Carlos Arias Navarro
Don Carlos Arias-Navarro, 1st Marquis of Arias-Navarro, Grandee of Spain, born Carlos Arias y Navarro was one of the best known Spanish politicians during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco....
's government, the first with Juan Carlos I
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
as chief of state. Until that moment, Fraga was known as a heavy-handed politician, though also seen as one of the reformers seeking a liberalisation
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
from within the regime, but the drastic measures he took as chief of state security during the first days of the Spanish transition to democracy
Spanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
deeply damaged his popularity. The phrase "¡La calle es mía!" ("The streets are mine!") was attributed to him. This phrase was his answer to complaints of police repression of street protests. He claimed that the streets did not belong to "people" but to the State. He is a known admirer of Canovas del Castillo.
Alianza Popular
Fraga was one of the writers of the new Spanish constitutionConstitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
approved in 1978. Along with other former members of Franco's regime, he soon founded the People's 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 :...
(Alianza Popular - AP), and became its president. The party fared poorly in its first years, but after the 1982 crisis and breakup of the Democratic Center Union, the moderate-conservative party which had won the first two democratic presidential elections, AP became the second party in Spain, and Fraga was considered Leader of the Opposition
Opposition (parliamentary)
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state...
to the Socialist government. Nevertheless, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party was enjoying great popularity and an absolute majority winning streak (in the 1982, 1986, and 1989 elections), as AP and its president were generally viewed as too reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
to be an alternative. Following this critical development, Fraga resigned the presidency of the party in 1986.
Partido Popular
Fraga came back in charge in 1989, determined to stop AP's crisis. With the addition of several lesser Christian democratic parties and the remnants of the Democratic Center Union, he refounded the People's Alliance as the People's PartyPeople'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...
(Partido Popular - PP). Later in the same year, Fraga encouraged the election of 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:...
as the party's new president. Fraga was then appointed as honorary president of the PP.
President of the Xunta of Galicia
Manuel Fraga returned to his Galician homeland in 1989, winning that year's presidential election as head of the People's Party in GaliciaGalician People's Party
The Galician People's Party was a Galician political party in the first years of the Spanish democracy.-History:It was founded in July 1976 as a result of the union of the Democratic Union of Galicia, led by Xaime Illa Couto, and the Galician Democratic Left, led by Fernando García Agudín...
(PPdeG) which had won a one seat majority in the election. He remained in charge for almost 15 years until the PPdeG lost its overall majority in the Galician election of 2005. Fraga saw his credibility damaged in late 2002, when an oil tanker ship called Prestige sank near the Galician coast causing a massive oil spill that affected the shoreline in the northwest of the region. Fraga was said to be slow to react and unable, or even unwilling, to handle the situation. In 2004, a power struggle between factions of PPdeG further hurt the party's image. Subsequently, in the autonomous elections of 2005, Fraga and the PPdeG lost their absolute majority in the Parliament of Galicia
Parliament of Galicia
The Galician Parliament is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It is formed by 75 deputies . Deputies are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of the Xunta of Galicia, by...
, and despite obtaining elections with a 45% plurality, a left government coalition between the Socialist Party of Galicia
Socialist Party of Galicia
The Socialist Party of Galicia is a centre-left political party in Galicia, Spain. It is the Galician affiliate of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . It defines itself as a Galicianist and social democratic party.-External links:Official*...
(PSdeG) and the Galician Nationalist Bloc was formed with socialist Emilio Pérez Touriño
Emilio Pérez Touriño
Emilio Pérez Touriño is a Spanish politician and economist. He is the former secretary general of the Socialist Party of Galicia and, from August 2005 to March 2009, former president of the autonomous community of Galicia . Namely, he was president of the executive branch, the Xunta de Galicia...
as the new president. Fraga remains in the political scene out of Galicia, as member of the Senate representing the Parliament of Galicia
Parliament of Galicia
The Galician Parliament is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It is formed by 75 deputies . Deputies are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of the Xunta of Galicia, by...
. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, a member of the Galician Popular Party, has been the PPdG head since late 2005.
Fraga was again chosen as a Senator by the Parliament of Galicia in 2008.
Overview
Fraga was one of the writers of the democratic constitution and spent part of his political career lessening the censorship law during dictatorship. However he has openly admitted admiration for General Franco and the regime in public, on several different occasions. He is renowned for his temper tantrums in public at not being referred to or addressed as Don Manuel. He most famously shouted during a television interview, completely unaware the camera was filming and the show was being broadcast live on air. Manuel Fraga Iribarne was probably one of the most important and yet controversial politicians in modern Spain.To his supporters, Fraga was a Galician hero who throughout his rule, modernised Galicia and built up a fair level of tourism to the region. He built great roads and motorways and in 2000, he approved the Galician Plan to build Spain's first high speed bullet train. However to his opponents he was an authoritarian relic of the Franco era who failed to lift Galicia and its people out of poverty and unemployment.
Despite their political differences, he maintains a friendship with Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, himself of Galician descent.
See also
- Rodolfo AlmirónRodolfo AlmirónRodolfo Almirón Sena was a former Argentine police officer and a leader of an extreme right-wing death squad known as the Triple A, operating in Argentina during the mid-1970s...
, former leader of the Argentine Triple A and chief of Manuel Fraga's personal security - Carmen Fraga EstévezCarmen Fraga EstévezCarmen Fraga Estévez is a Spanish politician and Member of the European Parliament with the People's Party. She is a member of the Bureau of the European People's Party and sits on...
, daughter and EU official.
External links
- PPdeG's official website for the 2005 elections (in Galician)
- Biography of Manuel Fraga (in English)