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José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
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Incumbent
Assumed office
17 April 2004
Monarch Juan Carlos I
Vice President María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
Preceded by José María Aznar
In office
1 July 2000 – 17 April 2004
Monarch Juan Carlos I
Prime Minister José María Aznar
Preceded by Joaquín Almunia
Succeeded by Mariano Rajoy
Born 4 August 1960 (1960-08-04)
Valladolid, Spain
Political party Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spouse(s) Sonsoles Espinosa (1990–present)
Children Laura Rodríguez Espinosa
Alba Rodríguez Espinosa
Residence Moncloa Palace
Religion Agnosticism
Signature
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero [xo̞ˈse̞ ˈlwis ro̞ˈðɾiɣ˕e̞θ θapaˈte̞ɾo̞] 
(help·info) (Born August 4, 1960 in Valladolid, Castile and León) is the 5th and current constitutional Prime Minister of Spain since the 2004 general election, re-elected for a second term in 2008.
Some of the main actions taken by Zapatero administration were the Spanish troops withdrawal from the Iraq war, which resulted in a long term diplomatic tension with the George W. Bush administration, the increase of Spanish troops in Afghanistan, the idea of an Alliance of Civilizations, co-sponsored by the then Turkish Prime Minister, the same-sex marriage legalization, a controversial failed peace negotiation attempt with ETA (a proscribed terrorist organisation), the increase of tobacco restrictions and the reform of various Autonomous statutes, particularly the Statute of Catalonia.
Personal life
Family background
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was born in Valladolid to Juan Rodríguez y García-Lozano (b. 1928), a lawyer, and María de la Purificación Zapatero y Valero (Valladolid, 1927 - Madrid, 30 October 2000). He grew up in León, where his family originated.[1]
His paternal grandfather, Juan Rodríguez y Lozano (28 July 1893 - Puente Castro, León, 18 August 1936), was a Republican captain executed by Franco's National army a month into the Spanish Civil War for refusing to fight with them.[2] He was betrayed and his whereabouts were revealed by certain PSOE people in Valladolid, before Rodriguez Zapatero was born.[3]
His maternal grandfather, Faustino Zapatero y Coronel, was a pediatrician and middle class liberal who died in 1978. His maternal grandmother María de la Natividad Valero y Asensio (Zamora, 9 December 1902 - Valladolid, 28 June 2006) was a right-wing conservative and died at age 103.[4] Zapatero was born in Valladolid not only because of his mother's attachment to her family, who lived there, but also because of the medical profession of her father.
Zapatero has said that, as a youngster, "as I remember it, I used to participate in late night conversations with my father and brother about politics, law or literature".[5] He says that his family taught him to be tolerant, thoughtful, prudent and austere.[6]
The memory of Republican Captain Lozano was also kept alive by his last will, handwritten 24 hours before facing the firing squad, and which can be considered a final declaration of principles. The will comprised six parts, the first three bestowing his possessions on his heirs; the fourth, in which he asked for a civil burial and, the fifth, in which he requested his family to forgive those who had tried and executed him and proclaiming his belief in the Supreme Being. In the sixth, Zapatero's grandfather asked his family to clear his name in the future as his creed consisted only in his "love for peace, for good and for improving the living conditions of the lower classes".[7]
Studies and teaching
He studied Law at the University of León, graduating in 1982. His performance as a student was above average before his pre-University year. His grades later in the year and in the University were essentially mediocre. According to his brother Juan: "He didn't study much but it made no difference, he continued successfully".[8]
After graduating, Zapatero worked as a teaching assistant in constitutional law at the University of León until 1986 (he continued working some hours a week without pay until 1991). It was subsequently found that he had been appointed by his department without the usual selection process involving interviews and competitive examinations, which if true, constitutes a case of political favouritism.[2] He has declared that the only activity that attracts him besides politics is teaching or, at most, academic research.[9]
Rodríguez Zapatero met his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa in León in 1981. They married on 27 January 1990 and have two daughters named Laura (b. 1993) and Alba (b. 1995).
In October 1991, his contract was cancelled by the new rector of the University of León, Julio César Santoyo, after the University's legal advisers considered Zapatero's posts as a teaching assistant and an MP to be incompatible (he had been elected in 1986). The Spanish Parliament's counselors, however, had considered the contract valid.[citation needed]
Zapatero did not do the military service which was compulsory in Spain: he received successive deferments because of his conditions as a university student and a teaching assistant. As an MP he was finally exempted.[10]
Zapatero enters politics
Zapatero attended his first political rally, organized by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) in Gijón in 1976. Some political parties had been legal since 21 July 1976, but the PSOE was not legalized until February 1977. The speech of Felipe González, the PSOE leader and future Prime Minister of Spain, who took part in the rally, exerted an important influence on Zapatero. He said, among other things, that "the Socialists' goal was the seizure of power by the working class to transform the ownership of the means of production" and that "the PSOE was a revolutionary party but not revolutionarist or aventurist [...], as it defended the use of elections to come to power".[11]
Zapatero and his family had been traditionally attracted to the Communist Party as it was the only party really organized before Francisco Franco's death in 1975.[citation needed] But, after the famous political rally in Gijón, they, and especially Zapatero, started to believe that the Socialist Party was the most probable future for the Spanish left.[12] At that time the Socialist Party was rebuilding its infrastructure in the province of León after having been outlawed following the Spanish Civil War.[13]
In 1977, the year of the first democratic elections after Franco's death, Zapatero supported both the Communist and Socialist Parties. He pasted posters of both parties.[12]
He eventually joined the PSOE on 23 February 1979. The impression Felipe González had caused on him in 1976 played a fundamental role in his decision to join the party. In 1979, the PSOE had not yet renounced Marxism as its ideological base (that happened later in 1979)[citation needed]. He said nothing about this at home, because he was afraid his parents would discourage him, considering him too young to join a political party.
In 1982, Zapatero became head of the socialist youth organization in the province of León. In July 1982, he met Felipe González at the summer school "Jaime Vera" and suggested that he make a "left turn" in the PSOE political program for the General Election of October 1982.[14] González answered advising him to abandon his conservative [leftist] viewpoint.[citation needed]
In 1986, he was elected to represent the province of León in the Cortes (Parliament), becoming its youngest member after the election held on 20 June. He was number two on the PSOE list for León.[15] In the following elections (those held in 1989, 1993, 1996 and 2000) he was number one on the list. In the elections of 2004 he ran for Madrid as number one.