Pedro Sánchez (Spanish politician)

Pedro Sánchez
Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 July 2014
Monarch	Felipe VI
Prime Minister	Mariano Rajoy
Preceded by	Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 July 2014
President	Micaela Navarro
Preceded by	Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 January 2013
Constituency	Madrid
In office 15 September 2009 – 27 September 2011
Constituency	Madrid
Personal details
Born	Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón 29 February 1972 Madrid, Spain
Political party	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spouse(s)	Begoña Fernández (2006–present)
Children	Ainhoa Carlota
Alma mater	Complutense University Free University of Brussels (French) University of Navarra Camilo José Cela University
Signature

Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpeðɾo ˈsaɲʧeθ ˈpeɾeθ-kastexon], born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician and the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since 2014. A Deputy in the congress for three terms for Madrid, he has been serving Spain's official leader of the opposition since 26 July 2014. He was elected as the Secretary-General of the PSOE after only one primary election, the first one in PSOE history to do so. After the 2015 elections, the King of Spain, having consulted the parliamentary groups, asked Sánchez to try to form a government on 2 February 2016.

Early life

Pedro Sánchez was born in the Madrid suburb of Tetuán. His father is a socialist entrepreneur. His mother is a social security worker. He graduated from Instituto Ramiro de Maeztu, a college-preparatory school. He played as a basketballer in Club de Baloncesto Estudinates U-21, a basketball team affiliated with Atlético Madrid.^[1]

In 1990, he went to the Complutense University to study economics and business sciences. He graduated in 1995. In 1993, he joined the PSOE after the victory of Felipe Gonzalez in elections that year.^[2] He earned a degree in Politics and Economics in 1998 after graduating from the Free University of Brussels, and a degree of business leadership from IESE Business School in the University of Navarra. He speaks fluent Spanish, English and French.^[3][4] He is Atheist.^[5]

Madrid City Councillor career

In 2003, he contested in the Madrid City Council election headed by Trinidad Jiménez. Being the 23rd on the proportional representation list and PSOE only won 21 seats, Sánchez did not become a city councillor after two of his companions resigned after a year. He quickly became one of the fundamental component of the leader of opposition Trinidad Jiménez’s team.^[3] Between 18 May 2004 – 15 September 2009, he was one of the 320 members of the City Council of Madrid, representing PSOE in the city of Madrid. At the same time, he went to help the PSdG (PSOE’s affiliated party in Galicia) to contest in the 2005 Galician regional election,^[1] which PSdG won eight seats, allowing Emilio Pérez Touriño to become the president of Galicia. In 2007, he was a part of the Miguel Sebastián campaign for Madrid’s premiership. He married María Begoña Gómez Fernández in 2006, they have two daughters. Their wedding was officiated by Trinidad Jiménez. He successfully defended his seat again in the municipal elections in 2007. He held the position of opposition critic of economy, housing and planning.^[3]

Parliamentary career

First term (2009-2011)

He was elected as a member in the Spanish Congress of Deputies for Madrid, replacing Pedro Solbes, Minister of Economy and Finance in the José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero cabinet, after Solbes retired from politics in 2009.

Short defeat (2011-2013)

In the general election of 2011, a heavy defeat for the Socialists, PSOE placed Sánchez 11th on the Proportional Representation list, while only electing 10 deputies. Having thus failed to win a seat, he returned to the Camilo José Cela University to finish his Doctorate in Economics. He served as a consultant to a European consortium and as a university professor. He earned a PhD in Economics and Business from the Camilo José Cela University.^[1]

Second term until leadership election (2013-2014)

In January 2013, Sánchez returned to Congress, replacing Cristina Narbona, who left her seat to enter the Council of Nuclear Safety. In December 2013, after a numerous Socialist leaders such as Elena Valenciano, Trinidad Jiménez, Miguel Sebastián and José Blanco López attended his new book release, his name began to sound like a prospective candidate for the party leadership. Sánchez officially launched his candidacy on June 12, 2014. He was elected as the Secretary-General on July 13, after winning 49% of votes against his opponents Eduardo Madina and José Antonio Pérez-Tapias (member of the Socialist Left platform).^[1][6] He was confirmed as Secretary-General after an Extraordinary Congress of the PSOE was held on 26–27 July that ratified the electoral result.^[1][1]

Secretary General

Representing a platform based on political regeneration, he demands a constitutional reform establishing federalism as the form of administrative organization of Spain in order to ensure that Catalonia would remain inside the country; a new, progressive, fiscal policy; extending welfare rights to all citizens; joining labour unions again to strengthen economic recovery; and regaining the confidence of former Socialist voters disenchanted by the measures taken by Zapatero during his late term as Prime Minister amid an economic crisis. He also opposes the grand coalition model supported by the former Socialist Prime Minister Felipe González, who championed the German system in case of political instability. Sánchez asked his European party caucus not to vote for the consensual candidate Jean-Claude Juncker of the European People's Party.^[7]

Pedro Sánchez, with Michelle Bachelet, Chilean president

Upon taking office as PSOE's Secretary-General, Sánchez faced a political crisis after the formation of a new party, Podemos. Approximately 25% of all PSOE supporters flew to Podemos. ^[8][9] Sánchez's political agenda includes reforming the constitution, establishing a federal model in Spain to replace the current devolution model^[10] and to further secularize Spain's education system, including the removal of religion-affiliated public and private schools.^[11] He named Caesar Luena as his second-in-command. On June 21, 2015, Sánchez was officially announced as the PSOE premiership candidate for the December 2015 general election.

References

1. "Pedro Sánchez, Secretaría general" [Pedro Sánchez, Secretary General]. PSOE (in Spanish). Retrieved 2015-12-27.
2. Fernando Garea (12 July 2014). Una carrera guiada por el azar. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 July 2014.
3. "El ascenso de Pedro Sánchez: de diputado "desconocido" a secretario general del PSOE" [The rise of Pedro Sanchez: "unknown" general secretary of the PSOE]. ABC (in Spanish). 2014-07-13. Retrieved 2015-12-27.
4. Congress of Deputies (Spain). "X Legislatura (2011-Actualidad)Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, Pedro".
5. "Pedro Sánchez, primer aspirante a La Moncloa que se declara abiertamente “ateo”" (in Spanish). El Plural. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
6. http://www.thespainreport.com/9777/pedro-sanchez-voted-new-secretary-general-spanish-socialist-party-xx-vote/
7. http://www.euractiv.com/sections/eu-elections-2014/spanish-socialists-vote-against-juncker-canete-308462
8. "¿De dónde vienen los votos de Podemos?" [Where do the votes of Podemos come from?]. europa press (in Spanish). 2014-11-05. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
9. Díez, Anabel (2015-07-06). "Pedro Sánchez, en proceso" [Pedro Sanchez, in process]. El Pais (in Spanish). Retrieved 2015-12-29.
10. Díez, Anabel (2014-11-09). "“Ni fractura, ni independencia, una España federal para todos”" ["No fracture, no independence, a federal Spain for all"]. El Pais (in Spanish). Retrieved 2015-12-29.
11. SANZ, LUIS ÁNGEL (2015-10-19). "El PSOE eliminará la religión en colegios públicos y privados" [The PSOE to eliminate religion in all public and private schools]. El Mundo(ES) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2015-12-29.