Aznar, José Maria (b. 1953)

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AZNAR, JOSÉMARIA (b. 1953)

Spanish politician and prime minister of Spain (1996–2004).

José Maria Aznar was born into a conservative family of journalists and politicians. Both his grandfather and his father had senior state positions during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. After graduating in law, he passed the official exams to become a tax inspector. As a student in the mid-1970s and a young graduate, he identified himself as a Falangist (a member of the Fascist Party) and opposed the drafting of the 1978 democratic constitution. In 1979 he joined Alianza Popular, then the most conservative force in parliament, becoming a deputy for the province of Ávila in 1982. Alianza Popular's founder, the former Francoist minister Manuel Fraga, was a family friend, helping Aznar to rise in the party. As a result, in 1985 he was elected premier of the region of Castile-Leon. After Fraga retired to become premier of his native Galicia region, the party went through a period of internal crises and electoral defeats against the ruling Socialists (1982–1996), in part because voters perceived Alianza Popular as being too conservative and too closely identified with the previous regime.

In 1992 Aznar became the leader of the organization, renamed the Popular Party (PP) in 1989. Since the late 1980s, the popularity of the Socialists had been affected by a number of scandals and a downturn in the economy. Aznar moved his party decisively to the center while at the same time conducting a very aggressive opposition with the help of large sectors of the media, particularly those close to the Catholic Church. In 1995 his personal popularity was boosted when the Basque terrorist organization ETA attempted to assassinate him with a car bomb. In 1996 the Popular Party defeated the Socialists by a narrower margin than expected, forcing Aznar to govern from a minority position. This led him to look for support among the conservative Catalonian, Basque, and Canary Island nationalist groups, softening what had been until recently a centralist political discourse. In the process he discarded some of his most strident collaborators. In 2000 voters rewarded both his moderation and his government's handling of the economy (under his mandate Spain moved swiftly to meet the requirements to join the new European single currency, the euro) by giving him an absolute majority in that year's general elections.

During his second term Aznar adopted an increasingly arrogant political tone, to the point of dismissing any criticism as a threat to the progress of the nation and even as evidence of disloyalty toward the constitutional order. This approach was closely mirrored by the state's broadcasting system, which often presented strongly biased views. He also embraced a more marked Spanish nationalism and departed from the country's recent foreign policy, which had been centered around increasing cooperation within the European Union, and particularly with France and Germany. Instead, Aznar formed a personal partnership with Britain's Tony Blair and later with Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. The high point of this diplomatic shift came after it became clear that George W. Bush's administration planned to invade Iraq during late 2002 and early 2003. Disregarding strong opposition from the citizens of Spain, of whom around 90 percent opposed the United States' polices on Iraq, Aznar actively supported the invasion.

Aznar had vowed several times that he would not seek a third term in office, a promise that he kept. His appointed successor, and candidate to become the next prime minister, was Mariano Rajoy. Confident that the performance of the economy would maintain electoral support for his party, elections were called for 14 March 2004. In the weeks before the voting, most polls predicted a victory for the Popular Party, even if the Socialists insisted that they were gathering electoral momentun. The campaign was suddenly transformed when, on the early hours of March 11, several bombs placed in commuter trains approaching Madrid killed 192 people. The government was quick to blame ETA for the carnage, a fact that, if confirmed, could only boost its chances of being reelected. However, within hours it became evident to everyone, except the government, PP candidates, and the media close to both, that the terrorist attack was the work of Islamic fundamentalists, not Basque separatists. The government angrily rejected this interpretation, dismissing both the material evidence and critical analysis. On voting day, electoral turnout was much higher than in previous years, with many young people, a traditionally apathetic sector, voting for the first time. The result was the unexpected victory for the Socialists, whose leader had announced several months before his commitment to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq and from the American-led coalition.

See alsoETA; Islamic Terrorism/Al Qaeda; Spain.