JOSÉ MARÍA AZNAR

José María Aznar is the President of FAES (Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis). He is also a Distinguished Scholar at Georgetown University where he teaches various seminars on contemporary European politics at the Edmund A. Walsh School. He is the Chairman of the Partido Popular, and of the Christian Democrat and People’s Parties International (CDI).

Mr. Aznar became Prime Minister of Spain in 1996, following the electoral success of the Partido Popular. With the party's repeated success at the polls in the year 2000, obtaining an absolute majority, Aznar was re-elected and held office until 2004.

As the Prime Minister of Spain, Mr. Aznar pursued significant economic and social reform.  Promoting policies of liberalization, budgetary control, rational public spending, and tax cuts, Mr. Aznar strove to create millions of new jobs and to increase Spain’s gross domestic product. Under his watch, five million jobs were created and Spain’s GDP featured an accumulated growth of 64% over eight years. Mr. Aznar also reduced the public deficit, balanced the budget in 2002, and reduced income tax for the first time since the advent of Spanish democracy.

José María Aznar began his political career as a member of Alianza Popular in 1979. In 1982 he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Ávila. He was later promoted to the post of Regional President of Alianza Popular in Castile and León, where he later served as Head of the Regional Government from 1987 and 1989.

In 1989, following the re-founding of the Partido Popular, Aznar was elected as a candidate for President of the Spanish Government for the General Elections of 1989. The following year he was elected as Chairman of the party. He then headed the list of Partido Popular candidates in 1993, 1996, and later 2000.

Aznar has written several books, including the following: Libertad y Solidaridad ("Freedom and Solidarity") (1991), España: la segunda transición (1994) ("Spain: The Second Transition"), La España en que yo creo (1995) ("The Spain I Believe In") and Ocho años de Gobierno (2004) ("Eight Years of Government").

One of José María Aznar's main concerns is the war against terrorism. He favors firm ant-terror policies and believes in fostering international cooperation among democratic countries. He is an ardent supporter of Spain having a close relationship with America and strongly believes that the European Union must strengthen its commitment to promoting greater freedom and economic reform.