Joaquin Almunia

José Joaquín Almunia Amann (Bilbao, Vizcaya, June 17, 1948) is a Spanish politician. He was the European Union's commissioner for the economy from April 26, 2004 until November 27, 2009, when the president of the European Commission, the Portuguese José Manuel Durão Barroso, entrusted him with a vice-presidency and the reins of the Competition portfolio.. He is also a prominent member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).

Biography

Beginnings

Almunia was born in Bilbao, is married and has two children. He studied Law and Economic Sciences at the Deusto Commercial University. He completed postgraduate studies at the Ecole Práctica de Estudios Superiores in Paris and the & # 34; Senior managers in Government & # 34; at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was an associate professor of Labor Law and Social Security at the University of Alcalá de Henares. Between 1972 and 1975, he was an economist at the Office of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce in Brussels.

Trajectory

Almunia was responsible for the economy of the socialist union UGT between 1976 and 1979. Almunia was from then until 2004, socialist deputy for the electoral district of Madrid. During the governments of Felipe González he was minister twice: from 1982 to 1986 of Labor and Social Security; and from 1986 to 1991 of Public Administrations.

Photographed in May 1990

Almunia was responsible for the reports "Equality and Income Redistribution" of the Argentaria Foundation from 1991 to 1994.

He was also parliamentary spokesman for his party in the period 1994-1997. In 1997, after Felipe González's announcement at the XXXIV Congress of the party that he would not run for re-election, Almunia was elected his successor in the General Secretariat. However, in the primary elections held on April 24, 1998, he was defeated with great surprise by 55% of votes by Josep Borrell, former Minister of Public Works under Felipe González, who ended up resigning in favor of Almunia, due to lack of support of management and his alleged responsibility in a tax fraud scandal involving Ernesto Aguiar and José María Huguet, two former collaborators of his when he was Secretary of the Treasury.

In 2000, he was a candidate for the Presidency in the General Elections, obtaining 7,918,752 votes (34.1%), bringing his party down to 125 deputies.

He resigned from office after the absolute majority achieved by the Popular Party, leaving the PSOE in the hands of a manager chaired by Manuel Chaves, called the Political Commission, which organized the 35th Congress in which José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was elected general secretary. He remained as deputy for Madrid, a position that he repeated after being number three on the PSOE list for Madrid in the 2004 general elections. However, he resigned from his seat to replace Pedro Solbes as Spanish commissioner in Brussels. He was director of the Fundación Alternativas Laboratory, but was replaced by Juan Manuel Eguiagaray. From 2010 to 2014 he was Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Competition.

Posts held

• Member of Madrid at the Congress of Deputies (1979-2004)
• Minister of Labour and Social Security (1982-1986)
• Minister of Public Administrations (1986-1991)
• PSOE spokesperson at the Congress (1994-1997)
• Secretary-General of the PSOE (1997-2000)
• Leader of the Opposition (1997-1998 and 1999-2000)
• European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs (2004-2010)
• Vice-President of the European Commission and European Commissioner of Competition (2010-2014)

Awards

• Person non grata in Vigo.