Who is Felipe González?
Felipe González joined the underground Socialist Youths in Seville in 1962 and the PSOE in 1964. He became its secretary general in 1974. At a 1979 congress the party dropped Marxism, and in October 1982 it won a landslide. He took office as prime minister on 2 December 1982 and governed until May 1996. His governments carried out industrial restructuring, expanded schooling and health care, and took Spain into the European Community on 1 January 1986. After the 1993 election he lost his majority. He gave up the party leadership in 1997 and left parliament in 2004. He is a co-founder of the Club de Madrid.
Political views
- Joined the PSOE in 1964, became its secretary general in 1974, and led the party's 1979 turn away from Marxism toward social democracy.Source: cidob.org
- Signed the Pactos de La Moncloa in 1977 and, in 1982, promised steady economic planning agreed with society rather than imposed, along with 800,000 new jobs.Source: lamoncloa.gob.es
- Restructured steel and shipbuilding at the cost of many jobs, privatized some firms and seized the Rumasa holding in 1983.Source: cidob.org
- The 1986 General Health Law created universal public health care, and a 1990 law extended free public education to age 16.Source: cidob.org
- Opposed NATO membership from opposition, then campaigned to stay in. The March 1986 referendum passed with 52.5 percent, and he later called calling it his biggest error.Source: cidob.org
- Took Spain into the European Economic Community on 1 January 1986.Source: cidob.org
- Pledged in 1982 to approve the statutes of four pending autonomous communities and reform local government.Source: lamoncloa.gob.es
- Was in power while the GAL death squads killed 27 people between 1983 and 1987. Courts tied them to the police and to Interior Ministry reserve funds.Source: cidob.org
Legacy
Admirers credit González with modernizing Spain after Franco: entry to Europe, universal health care, wider schooling and a stable democracy. He later received the Charlemagne Prize. Critics note that industrial restructuring cost many jobs and unemployment stayed high for much of his time in office. Unions held general strikes in 1985, 1988 and 1994. The GAL death squads killed 27 people, some with no link to ETA, and courts tied them to the police and Interior Ministry funds, while corruption cases damaged his last governments. He later called the NATO referendum his biggest error.