María Teresa Fernández de la Vega

María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz (born 15 June 1949) is a Spanish politician and magistrate of the Socialist Party. She currently serves as President of the Spanish Council of State since 2018. From 18 April 2004 to 20 October 2010, she was the first deputy prime minister, minister of the Presidency and cabinet spokesperson in the government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.[1] She is the first female deputy prime minister and president of the Council of State in Spanish history.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Fernández de la Vega and the second or maternal family name is Sanz.
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega
72nd President of the Council of State
Assumed office
3 July 2018
Preceded byJosé Manuel Romay Beccaría
First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
In office
18 April 2004 – 21 October 2010
MonarchJuan Carlos I
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded byRodrigo Rato
Succeeded byAlfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
Minister of the Presidency
In office
18 April 2004 – 21 October 2010
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded byJavier Arenas
Succeeded byRamón Jáuregui
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office
9 March 2008 – 21 October 2010
ConstituencyValencia
In office
14 March 2004 – 9 March 2008
ConstituencyMadrid
In office
12 March 2000 – 14 March 2004
ConstituencySegovia
In office
March 1996 – March 2000
ConstituencyJaen
Personal details
Born
María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz

(1949-06-15) 15 June 1949
Valencia, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Political partyPSOE
Other political
affiliations		PSUC
Alma materComplutense University of Madrid
ProfessionJurist

Early life and career

Fernández de la Vega is the daughter of Wenceslao Fernández de la Vega Lombán who was a public servant during Franco's dictatorship, a delegate of the ministry of employment headed at that time by Fermín Sanz Orrio (1957–1962). She was born in Valencia in 1949.[2][3] She earned a degree in law from the Complutense University of Madrid in the early 1970s.[3] In 1974 she entered Spain's Cuerpo de Secretarios Jurídicos Laborales, a specialised body of the civil service.

Political career

Fernández de la Vega started her political career in the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia, remaining a member of it until 1979. From 1982 until 1985, she was the director of the advisory cabinet of the minister of justice, and in 1985 she was appointed general director of services at the ministry of justice. In 1986 she became a member of the legal cooperation committee of the Council of Europe. In 1990, she was chosen as a spokesperson of the general council of judicial power by the Senate (1994–1996). On 13 May 1994, the then Justice Minister Juan Alberto Belloch appointed her as the 1st Secretary of State for Justice.

Fernández de la Vega was elected a member of the Spanish Congress for Jaén for the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party candidacy for the 1996-2000 term, being re-elected in the elections of 2000 for Segovia.[3] During this term she became general secretary of the Socialist parliamentary group.

In the Spanish general election of 2004 she became a member of the parliament for Madrid, and on 18 April of that year she was appointed first vice president and minister of Presidency, remaining the incumbent of each.

Fernández de la Vega was the first woman to take on the functions of the prime minister in the history of Spanish democracy, when, on 24 April 2004, during the first official visit abroad of Spain's Prime Minister, Zapatero, she presided over the Council of Ministers.

In March 2006, the first vice president went on an African tour with the state secretary for cooperation, Leire Pajín, visiting Kenya and Mozambique, in whose capital, Maputo, they celebrated International Women's Day and closed the forum "Spain-Africa: Women for a better world".

For the 2008 elections, Fernández de la Vega headed the list for the PSOE in Valencia. She left all the political offices in October 2010.

President of the Council of State

After leaving the first political line, on July 3, 2018, prime minister Pedro Sánchez chose her to chair over the Council of State, the supreme consultative council of the Spanish government. She assumed the office on July 5, 2018, becoming the first woman to chair the Council.[4][5]

Other activities
  • Judges for Democracy (Jueces para la Democracia), Member
  • Graduate School for Global and International Studies, University of Salamanca, Member of the Advisory Board[6]

In addition, Fernández de la Vega has written many papers, including La reforma de la jurisdicción laboral and Derechos humanos y Consejo de Europa.

Recognition

On 7 October 2006 Fernández de la Vega received the Tomás y Valiente Award in Fuenlabrada, Madrid.

See also

References
  1. Ministry of Presidency - First Vice Presidency of the Government of Spain Archived 9 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Who's who in the Spanish Cabinet". Spain View. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  3. "The President announces the new Cabinet". La Moncloa. 12 April 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  4. RTVE.es (5 July 2018). "Fernández de la Vega, la 1ª mujer al frente del Consejo de Estado". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  5. País, El (19 June 2018). "María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, presidenta del Consejo de Estado". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  6. Advisory Council Graduate School for Global and International Studies, University of Salamanca.
Political offices
Preceded by
Rodrigo Rato		 First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
2004-2010		 Succeeded by
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
Preceded by
Javier Arenas		 Minister of the Presidency of Spain
2004-2010		 Succeeded by
Ramón Jáuregui Atondo
Preceded by
Eduardo Zaplana		 Spokesperson of the Government of Spain
2004-2010		 Succeeded by
Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
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