Luis de Guindos

Luis de Guindos
Minister of Economy and Competitiveness
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 December 2011
Prime Minister	Mariano Rajoy
Preceded by	Elena Salgado (Economy and Finance)
Personal details
Born	16 January 1960 Madrid, Spain
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	University College of Financial Studies

Luis de Guindos Jurado (born January 16, 1960) is a Spanish politician and currently the Minister of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain.^[1][2][3]

Early life and education

De Guindos was born in Madrid, Spain, on January 16, 1960. He is a Bachelor of Economics and Business at the Colegio Universitario de Estudios Financieros.^[4]

Career

De Guindos was once the Managing Partner of Advisors AB, secretary of the magazine "Business Information Spanish", and vocal advisor to the Secretary of State for Economy of Spain and Head of Technical Office of the General Secretariat of Commerce.

In late 1996, de Guindos was appointed General Director for Economic and Competitiveness. He has served on the board of Renfe between 1997 and 2000 and the Official Credit Institute from 2000 to 2002. In May 2000 was appointed Secretary in General for Economy, and State Industrial Holdings Company. He was Secretary of State for Economic Affairs under Minister for Economic Affairs Rodrigo Rato in the last government led by José María Aznar and was succeeded by David Vegara. In this capacity, he was in charge of overseeing Spain’s entry into the eurozone.^[5]

Private sector, 2004–2011

In 2006, de Guindos was appointed advisor for Lehman Brothers in Europe^[6][7] and director of its subsidiary bank in Spain and Portugal, where he remained until the collapse and declaration of bankruptcy of the latter in 2008. Subsequently, de Guindos became responsible for the finance division of Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Finally, and in a largely ceremonial role, he was appointed as a professor of finance at the PwC and IE Financial Sector Center of IE Business School (Madrid), between 2010-2012, before joining as a minister.^[8] He was also a board member of Endesa SA, a Spanish power company.^[9]

From 2011, de Guindos worked for the board of Mare Nostrum Bank,^[10] which was formed in 2010 from a merger of savings banks, until he resigned to become part of the government led by Mariano Rajoy in December of that year.

Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, 2011-present

De Guindos has served as economy minister in Rajoy’s centre-right government since it took office in 2012 and is credited with steering Spain to economic recovery following the euro zone's 2009-2014 crisis.^[11] He played a crucial role in negotiating the European Union's €100 billion bailout of Spain’s stricken savings banks, and in spearheading the country’s overhaul of the banking sector, labour market and other parts of the economy.^[12] His implementation of a program of both structural reforms and austerity measures has earned praise from Spain’s European partners and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which estimated that no country other than Greece had implemented more structural reforms than Spain.^[13]

In August 2014, German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave de Guindos her backing in his bid to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem as leading the Eurogroup from mid-2015;^[14] Merkel and de Guindos are members of the same center-right political European People’s Party political bloc. Securing the Eurogroup post for de Guindos was a key political goal for Rajoy, who hoped that his appointment will cement perceptions both at home and abroad that Spain has emerged from crisis and can be taken seriously once again at international level.^[15] Meanwhile, on 5 June 2015, Dijsselbloem announced he would seek a second term, prompting de Guindos saying he would mount a challenge.^[16] At a Eurogroup meeting in July 2015, Dijsselbloem picked up 10 votes, with the remaining countries subsequently deciding to vote unanimously for his second term.^[17]

Political positions

De Guindos, who is married with two children, is a practicing Roman Catholic. In September 2014, he attended the beatification of one of the leaders of the conservative Opus Dei movement. Yet in the press he has said he supports the right of gay people to marry and did not support the government’s 2014 proposal to outlaw abortion.^[18]

References

1. John Fraher and Angeline Benoit (April 27, 2012). "Spain Rules Out Bailout as De Guindos Says Banks Funded". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
2. "Ministerio de Economia Luis de Guindos presenta el cuadro macroeconómico que prevé un crecimiento del 3% para 2004" (PDF). Ministry of Economy and Finance (Spain). Retrieved June 10, 2012.
3. Daniel Woolls and Sarah DiLorenzo (June 9, 2012). "Europe bailout of Spain could cost $125 billion". The Washington Times. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
4. Empresa (EOC) insider: Luis Jurado Retrieved June 10, 2012
5. Nicholas Hirst (October 2, 2014), Luis de Guindos: reform champion European Voice.
6. "Spain names ex-Lehman executive as economy minister". BBC News. December 21, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
7. "Spain's new Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has named ex-Lehman Brothers banker Luis de Guindos in the pivotal job as economy minister". RTE News. December 21, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
8. "Luis de Guindos deja Pricewaterhouse y pasa al Instituto de Empresa". El Pais. February 2, 2010. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
9. Emma Ross-Thomas and Charles Penty (December 22, 2011), Lehman Banker, Budget Expert Picked to Steer Spain’s Economy Bloomberg Business.
10. "Commercial Banks: Company Overview of Banco Mare Nostrum, S.A.". Retrieved June 10, 2012.
11. Robin Emmott (April 25, 2015), Spain to bid for euro zone chair in challenge to Dijsselbloem Reuters.
12. Tobias Buck and Peter Spiegel (June 9, 2015), De Guindos fights for eurogroup job, with Spanish pride at stake Financial Times.
13. Nicholas Hirst (October 2, 2014), Luis de Guindos: reform champion European Voice.
14. Merkel backs Spain economy minister to lead Eurogroup RTÉ News and Current Affairs, August 25, 2014.
15. Tobias Buck and Peter Spiegel (August 25, 2014), Angela Merkel backs Luis de Guindos to chair eurozone finance ministers’ group Financial Times.
16. Toby Sterling (June 5, 2015), Netherlands' Dijsselbloem seeks second term as Eurogroup president Reuters.
17. Zeke Turner (July 13, 2015), Dijsselbloem secures second term Politico Europe.
18. Nicholas Hirst (October 2, 2014), Luis de Guindos: reform champion European Voice.