Biography - Tuesday, March 4, 2008 18:47 - 0 Comments

José María Aznar

José María Aznar is Executive President of FAES (The Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis) and distinguished Scholar at the University of Georgetown where he has taught various seminars on contemporary European politics at the Edmund A. Walsh School since the year 2004.

He became Prime Minister of Spain in 1996, and again in the year 2000, this time with an absolute majority. His time as Prime Minister lasted up until the elections of 2004, when he voluntarily chose not to run for office again.

Throughout his two terms as Prime Minister of the Government he led an important process of economic and social reform. Thanks to them almost 5 million jobs were created in Spain.

The Spanish GDP figure grew each year by more than 2%, at an average of 3.4% in fact, featuring an aggregate increase of 64% over eight years.

Throughout this period, Spain’s average income increased from 78% to 87% of the average income of the European Union. The public deficit decreased from an alarming 6% of GDP to a balanced budget. Furthermore, the first two reductions in income tax that democratic Spain has ever known took place during his two terms in office.

José María Aznar is in favour of a firm policy against terrorism, and he is also a strong supporter of the Atlantic Relationship and the European Union’s commitment to freedoms and economic reform.

He forms part of the committees of various organisations, including the committee for the initiative known as “One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)” and the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba (ICDC).

José María Aznar has been awarded honorary doctorates by Sophia University in Tokyo (1997), Florida International University (1998), Bar-Ilan University in Israel (2005) Ciencias Aplicadas University in Perú (2006), Andrés Belló University in Chile (2006), Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala (2006) and by Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore in Milán (2007).