María Teresa Fernández de la Vega


María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz is a Spanish Socialist politician. She is the current President of the Spanish Council of State. 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. She is the first female deputy prime minister and president of the Council of State in Spanish history.

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. She was born in Valencia in 1949. She earned a degree in law from the Complutense University of Madrid in the early 1970s. 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. 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. 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.

Other activities

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.