Felipe González Márquez (Spanish: [feˈlipe ɣonˈθaleθ ˈmaɾkeθ]; born 5 March 1942) is a retired Spanish politician who was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest-serving democratically elected prime minister of Spain.
González joined the PSOE in 1964 when it was banned under the Francoist regime. He obtained a law degree from the University of Seville in 1965. In 1974, the PSOE elected González as its secretary-general after a split in its 26th Congress. He led the party through the Spanish transition to democracy, carrying it to a strong second-place finish in the 1977 general election, making the PSOE the main opposition to the ruling Union of the Democratic Centre, a position it maintained in 1979.
After the PSOE victory in the 1982 general election, González formed his first majority government, backed by 202 out of the 350 deputies at the Congress of Deputies, and led the government of Spain for thirteen and a half years after three additional victories in the 1986, 1989 and 1993 general elections. In 1996, González lost the election to José María Aznar and the People's Party and was elected to the Congress of Deputies for the last time in the 2000 general election, from Seville.
González was born in Bellavista, Seville, the son of a small dairy farmer. He has a sister called Lola González Márquez, married to Francisco Germán Palomino Romera, by whom she has two sons, Felipe and Germán Palomino González. He studied law at the University of Seville and started his career as an attorney specialising in labour law. While at the university he met members of the clandestine socialist trade union Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT). He also contacted members of the PSOE and started taking part in the party's clandestine activity, necessary under the dictatorship of Franco. During that time he adopted the alias Isidoro and moved to Madrid. He was elected secretary general of the Party at the Suresnes Congress, in France.
By the time of Franco's death, González had become the most prominent figure among the left wing of the democratic opposition to the regime, and played a critical role, along with then serving prime minister Adolfo Suárez, in the Spanish transition to democracy. During the Suárez government, General and Deputy Prime Minister Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado asked González not to raise the debate of the Civil War and Francoist repression until the death of those of his generation.
In the first democratic general election after Franco's death, held in 1977, the PSOE became the second most-voted for party, and this served González to appear as a young, active and promising leader. However, he did not win the 1979 election and had to wait for 1982 and the dissolution of the Union of the Democratic Centre party to come into office.
In the 1982 general election held on 28 October 1982, the PSOE gained 48.1% of the vote and 202 deputies (out of 350). On 2 December González became President of the Government of Spain, with Alfonso Guerra as his deputy. He was the first socialist to hold the post since the Spanish Civil War, and his government was the first since then in which none of its members had served under Francoism.
With a large majority in the Congress of Deputies, popularly known as "the roller" (Spanish: el rodillo), González's election was met with tremendous expectation of change amongst Spaniards. Under his government, a wide range of social reforms were introduced. Various labor measures were passed, university education was reformed and expanded, the social security system was extended and a partial legalisation of abortion became law for the first time, despite opposition from the Catholic Church. González pushed for reforms and a restructuring of the economy.
Also, from 1982 to 1994, Spanish social expenditure as a percentage of the European level rose from 63.7% to 87.6%.
On 23 February 1983, the Government passed a law nationalising the company Rumasa, a private business that included merchant banking interests, on the grounds that it was at the point of bankruptcy and the government needed to protect the savings of depositors and the jobs of its 60,000 employees, a decision that aroused considerable criticism and a judicial conflict over the law that was only resolved, in favour of the government, in December 1986.
In the 1986 general election held on 22 June 1986, the PSOE gained 44.1% of the vote and 184 deputies in Parliament. González was elected prime minister for the second time. During this second term, Spain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1986. González supported Spain remaining in NATO that same year in a referendum reversing his and the party's earlier anti-NATO position.
On 29 October 1989, he won the 1989 general election with 39.6% of the vote and 175 seats, his third successive mandate. However, he lost the outright majority he had held since 1982.
On 6 June 1993, González won the 1993 general election with 38.8% of the vote and 159 deputies. His fourth victory was marred by the fact he was forced to form a pact with nationalist political parties from Catalonia and Basque country in order to form a new government.
Towards the end of 1995, there was a debate about whether González should lead the PSOE in the forthcoming general elections. The People's Party intensified its campaign to associate his period in office with a poor economic situation (although unemployment had begun to decline and the economic reforms of the previous decade initiated a lasting period of economic growth) and with accusations of corruption and state terrorism scandals, including allegations of waging a dirty war against the terrorist group ETA by means of the GAL. There was speculation in the press about Javier Solana as a possible replacement, but Solana was appointed Secretary General of NATO in December 1995.
In June 2020, the CIA declassified information confirming that González had authorised the creation of the GAL.
Left with no other suitable candidate, the party was again led by González and in the 1996 general election held on 3 March 1996, they gained 37.4% of the vote and 141 deputies. They lost the election to the People's Party whose leader José María Aznar replaced González as prime minister (presidente in Spanish, not to be confused with the English use of the term) on 4 or 5 May 1996.
The Gonzalez government left behind a deep impact on the Spanish real economy, such as the expansion of the networks of highways and airports and the creation of new infrastructures, including high-speed rail in Spain. Gonzalez-led cabinets were the first to implement a national, comprehensive infrastructure program that included not only public works but also theatres, museums, and secondary schools. In addition, a comprehensive welfare state was established, while improvements were made to social programmes such as pensions and unemployment benefits. A 40-hour workweek was introduced, while entitlement to paid holidays was extended to up to 30 days per year. Pension funds were also established, together with provisions for social tourism. In addition, the school-leaving age was raised from 14 to 16, while the number of educational grants was multiplied by eight.
Unemployment protection was expanded and a national education system for children under the age of six was established. Cash benefits in social housing, universal healthcare and education were introduced, along with earnings-based benefits for widowhood, sickness, disability and retirement. A Ministry of Social Affairs was also set up, allowing for social services to be decentralised in the early Nineties and to be available to all citizens, rather than only to those with social security.