Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo
The Most Excellent Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo GE OCIII OCM | |
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Prime Minister of Spain | |
In office 25 February 1981 – 1 December 1982 | |
Monarch | Juan Carlos I |
Deputy | Rodolfo Martín Villa Juan Antonio García Díez |
Preceded by | Adolfo Suárez |
Succeeded by | Felipe González |
Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain | |
In office 9 September 1980 – 25 February 1981 | |
Prime Minister | Adolfo Suárez |
Preceded by | Fernando Abril Martorell |
Succeeded by | Juan Antonio García Díez |
Minister of Economy | |
In office 9 September 1980 – 25 February 1981 | |
Prime Minister | Adolfo Suárez |
Preceded by | Fernando Abril Martorell |
Succeeded by | José Luis Leal Maldonado |
Minister for Relations with the European Communities | |
In office 25 February 1978 – 9 September 1980 | |
Prime Minister | Adolfo Suárez |
Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Eduardo Punset |
Minister of Public Works | |
In office 4 July 1976 – April 1977 | |
Prime Minister | Adolfo Suárez |
Preceded by | Antonio Valdés |
Succeeded by | Luis Ortiz González |
Minister of Commerce | |
In office 13 December 1975 – 6 July 1976 | |
Prime Minister | Carlos Arias Navarro |
Preceded by | José Luis Cerón Ayuso |
Succeeded by | José Lladó |
Member of the Congress of Deputies | |
In office 22 July 1977 – 31 August 1982 | |
Constituency | Madrid |
In office 28 July 1983 – 23 April 1986 | |
Constituency | Madrid |
Personal details | |
Born | Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo (1926-04-14)14 April 1926 Madrid, Spain |
Died | 3 May 2008(2008-05-03) (aged 82) Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain |
Resting place | Ribadeo Cemetery, Galicia, Spain |
Nationality | Spanish |
Political party | Union of the Democratic Centre (1977-1983) |
Spouse(s) | María del Pilar Ibáñez-Martín Mellado |
Children | Leopoldo (b. 1957) Juan (b. 1958) María del Pilar (b. 1959) Pedro (b. 1960) Víctor María (b. 1961) José María (b. 1964) Andrés (b. 1965) Pablo (b. 1965) |
Signature |
Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo, GE, OCIII, OCM (Spanish pronunciation: [leoˈpoldo ˈkalβosoˈtelo i βusˈtelo]; 14 April 1926 – 3 May 2008), known as Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo was Prime Minister of Spain between 1981 and 1982.
Contents
1 Early life and career
2 Political career
3 President of the Government of Spain
4 Later years
5 Personal life
6 General references
7 References
8 External links
Early life and career
Calvo-Sotelo was born into a prominent political family in Madrid on 14 April 1926 with his father, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo,[1] as the writer and his mother, Mercedes Bustelo Márquez.[2] His uncle, José Calvo Sotelo, was the finance minister under Miguel Primo de Rivera, whose murder in 1936 precipitated the triggering of the Spanish Civil War.[2] Calvo-Sotelo graduated as a civil engineer from the School of Civil Engineers of Madrid now part of the Technical University of Madrid, working in the area of applications of chemistry to the industry.[2]
He was the president of RENFE (the Spanish national railroad network) between 1967 and 1968. Calvo-Sotelo was elected solicitor (Deputy) of Franco's Cortes, representing industrialists in the Union of Chemical Industries, in 1971.[2] A monarchist, Sotelo was one of the founders of an association of politicians, mostly of Rightists and Center Rightists, which disguised as the Fedisa publishing firm helped Spain's peaceful transition into democracy.[2]
Political career
Calvo-Sotelo was designated Minister of Commerce by Carlos Arias Navarro to be in the first government of the Monarchy (December 1975 – July 1976).[2] He advocated total destruction of Franco's ideals instead of mere superficial changes that politicians like Navarro planned.[2] Calvo-Sotelo was kept in the cabinet of Adolfo Suárez upon his succession to premiership in 1976 and directed several centre-right and centre-left political associations into one party, the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD).[2] The UCD won in both the June 1977 and the March 1979 elections[2] and Calvo-Sotelo was elected MP for Madrid.
President of the Government of Spain
Suárez decided to keep him in the Cabinet, first from 1978 to 1980 as Minister for Relations of the European Economic Community, then as Second Vicepresident in charge of economic affairs.[2] After the resignation of Suárez on 29 January 1981, he was supposed to be appointed Prime Minister (Presidente del Gobierno) on 23 February, and advocated Spain's proposed entry into NATO as soon as possible.[2] However, on that date a session of the Congress of Deputies was interrupted by the attempted coup of 23-F.[2] After the failed coup, his appointment as Prime Minister was confirmed on 25 February by the vote of all the UCD members of the congress and 21 others as well, giving him a majority of 186 to 158.[2] Splits in the UCD group led to the formation of three rival parties, the Democratic Action Party (Partido de Acción Democrática/PAD), which soon merged with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) and Democratic Popular Party (PDP), resulting in the UCD being unable to count on sufficient support in the legislature. Fresh elections were called, resulting in a heavy defeat for the UCD, which won only 12 seats at the 1982 election compared to 168 in 1979. He served as Prime Minister until 1 December 1982 and was succeeded by the socialist Felipe González.[2]
Later years
In 2002, Calvo-Sotelo was raised into the Spanish nobility by King Juan Carlos of Spain and given the hereditary title of Marqués de la Ría de Ribadeo (Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo), together with the dignity Grande de España (English: Grandee of Spain), this in honor for his service.[3][4]
Calvo-Sotelo was also a member of the Club of Madrid[5] and of the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering.
He died of cardiac arrest at his home in Pozuelo de Alarcón, on 3 May 2008.
Personal life
He was married to María del Pilar Ibáñez-Martín y Mellado and had eight children:
- Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b. Madrid, 4 September 1957), 2nd Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo, married to Cristina Egea y Gutiérrez-Cortines.
- Juan Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b. Madrid, 14 November 1958), married to Lucía Fernández y Cartuxo
- María del Pilar Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b. Madrid, 20 October 1959), married to Carlos Delclaux y Zulueta
- Pedro Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b. Madrid, 20 December 1960), married to María Alvarez-Cascos y Gómez de Arteche
- Víctor Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b. Madrid, 24 November 1961), unmarried and without issue
- José María Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b. Madrid, 2 May 1964), unmarried and without issue
- Andrés Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b. Lisbon, 14 August 1965), twin with the below, unmarried and without issue
- Pablo Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b. Lisbon, 14 August 1965), twin with the above, married to Elvira García-Bellido y Capdevilla
General references
- Mclean, Renwick (2006). "Spain Takes a Proud Look Back." International Herald Tribune. 24 February.
- Preston, Paul (1990). The Triumph of Democracy in Spain. London: Routledge.
- Rogers, Eamonn and Valerie Rogers, eds. (1999). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture. London: Routledge.
- Walker, Jane (2006). "The Day Freedom Was Put in Peril." The Irish Times. 23 February.
References
^ Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1. marqués de Ría de Ribadeo GeneAll
^ abcdefghijklmn "Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo: Post-Franco Prime Minister of Spain who survived an attempted coup and was determined to see the country join Nato". The Times. UK. 5 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ Otras disposiciones BOE 25 June 2002
^ El Rey nombra a Calvo-Sotelo marqués de la Ría de Ribadeo con Grandeza de España Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine La Voz la Galicia
^
Club of Madrid
External links
Media related to Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo at Wikimedia Commons
Political offices | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by José Luis Cerón Ayuso | Minister of Commerce 1975–1976 | Succeeded by José Lladó Fernández-Urrutia |
Preceded by Antonio Valdés González-Roldán | Minister of Public Works 1976–1977 | Succeeded by Luis Ortiz González |
Preceded by Office created | Minister for Relations with the European Communities 1978–1980 | Succeeded by Eduardo Punset |
Preceded by Fernando Abril Martorell | Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain 1980–1981 | Succeeded by Juan Antonio García Díez |
Preceded by Fernando Abril Martorell | Minister of Economy 1980–1981 | Succeeded by José Luis Leal Maldonado |
Preceded by Adolfo Suárez | Prime Minister of Spain 1981–1982 | Succeeded by Felipe González |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by Office created | Secretary-General of the Union of the Democratic Centre 1977-1978 | Succeeded by Rafael Arias-Salgado |
Preceded by Office created | Leader of the Centrist Group in the Congress of Deputies 1977–1978 | Succeeded by Antonio Jiménez Blanco |
Preceded by Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún | President of the Union of the Democratic Centre 1981–1982 | Succeeded by Landelino Lavilla |
Spanish nobility | ||
New creation | Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo 2002–2008 | Succeeded by Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín |