Felipe Gonzalez

Felipe Gonzalez, a Spanish politician, served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and the First Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest serving Prime Minister in Spain to date. Gonzalez is the only child in his family to enter university and has attended law school and the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. Before transferring to law, he studied civil engineering at the University of Seville. After graduation, he began his legal career in Seville, specializing in defending workers' rights. In 1965, he moved to Madrid and was elected as the First Secretary of the Socialist Party in 1974. He was re elected in September 1979. He continuously expanded the party's appeal to the masses and voter base, achieving great success, making it stand out as the largest legitimate political party in the 1977 general election. Gonzalez 'gentle attitude and youthful and attractive public image helped the party achieve an overwhelming victory in the 1982 general election, following the first peaceful party rotation. At the age of 40, he became the youngest head of government in Europe, forming Spain's first left-wing government in 46 years. He was elected consecutively in 1986 and 1989, but his votes decreased. In 1993, the Socialist Workers' Party of Spain failed to obtain a parliamentary majority, but Gonzalez successfully formed a minority government. During his term as Prime Minister, he ceased Spain's participation in NATO operations, but in 1986, he supported his country's accession to the European Community. His pragmatic domestic policies were committed to reducing inflation, implementing free market policies, and promoting economic modernization. Through the promotion of economic integration between Spain and Europe through the European Community, and the transfer of several major powers to local governments in Spain, Spain's economy flourished rapidly after joining the Community, but growth slowed down after 1990, and by 1993, the unemployment rate had reached over 20%. Despite facing thorny economic problems, Gonzalez still maintained political stability and personal prestige. In 1996, he lost the general election and stepped down, transferring power to the right-wing Spanish People's Party, achieving a second peaceful political party rotation. Resigned as the first secretary of the Spanish Workers' Socialist Party in 1997. On May 22, 2007, Spain's Antena 3 selected the most important Spaniard in history, ranking him 10th.