Francisco Fernandez Ordonez

Francisco Fernández Ordóñez (Madrid, June 22, 1930 - ibid., August 7, 1992) was a very prominent Spanish politician in the years of political transition. He held the ministries of Finance and Justice under the presidency of Adolfo Suárez and of Foreign Affairs under Felipe González.

Biography

The son of a civil engineer, Francisco Fernández Conde, he was the eldest of ten children and studied at the Colegio del Pilar in Madrid. Graduated in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid, with an extraordinary degree award, he obtained by competitive examination the positions of prosecutor and Treasury inspector. He completed postgraduate studies in the United States, graduating from the International Tax Program of Harvard University.

He was successively president of the Spanish delegation to the OECD, technical secretary general of the Ministry of Finance, president of the National Institute of Industry - a position from which he resigned for political reasons - member of the Commission of Nine, who represented the opposition Spanish democrat, founder of the Social Democratic Party (later to be one of the members of the UCD coalition), Minister of Finance, President of the Banco Exterior de España, Minister of Justice and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Political career

Minister of Finance and Justice

When he was Minister of the Treasury, the tax reform of 1977 was a success in his political life since it meant the modernization of Spanish taxation according to the dominant model in the rest of the Western world, introducing the income tax and served him well to gain the confidence of President Adolfo Suárez, who later appointed him Minister of Justice when he reshuffled his cabinet in September 1980.

Despite the resignation of Suárez and his replacement by Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Fernández Ordóñez continued to be Minister of Justice and from this position promoted the Divorce Law of 1981 and the reform of family law. When he realized that the Unión del Centro Democrático (UCD) was coming to an end, he formed his own party, the so-called Partido de Acción Democrática (PAD), although he did not resign from his seat despite requests for resignation made from the UCD leadership., in whose ranks he had been elected. His new political formation ended up joining the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), so that, when they won the 1982 elections, Francisco Fernández Ordóñez continued his political activity, presiding over the Banco Exterior until June 1985. That year marked another turning point. in his professional life when he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Felipe González.

Foreign Affairs

From this ministry he was able to be the protagonist of the international opening that Spain led in the 1980s with Felipe González in the presidency. As head of the Spanish Foreign Ministry, he led the new bilateral relations with the United States, not without tension, having to negotiate the reduction of the presence of US bases in Spain, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel and entry into the European Union Western. Likewise, in the first half of 1989 he was in charge of successfully leading the Spanish presidency of the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community and directed Spanish integration into the current European Union; but also, his influence and that of so many Spanish diplomats and politicians, made this organization begin to "discover" Latin America.

Precisely during those years, Spain actively supported the holding of the Ibero-American Summits of Heads of State and Government. However, since all these moments are of special significance for the country and for the ministry directed by Fernández Ordóñez, the achievement that most satisfied him was the celebration in Madrid of the International Peace Conference between Arabs and Israelis, in 1991. ^{[citation required]}

Death

He developed part of this hectic professional activity while seriously ill with cancer. He died on August 7, 1992, a year of extraordinary importance for Spain and in which Fernández Ordóñez was of great importance on the political scene: signing of the Maastricht Treaty (and of multiple reciprocity treaties previously signed by Spain with States for the right to vote), member of the Council of Ministers of the government that promoted the constitutional reform.

Family

His brother Miguel Ángel was governor of the Bank of Spain. His brother José Antonio was a prominent Civil Engineer, Canals and Ports, his niece Inés, a philologist and member of the Royal Spanish Academy and his niece Ana de la Cueva is the current president of National Heritage.