José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

Prime Minister of Spain

4 August 1960 Valladolid, Spain

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17 April 2004 – 21 December 2011

Spanish politician "Zapatero" redirects here. For other uses, see Zapatero (disambiguation). In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Rodríguez and the second or maternal family name is Zapatero. This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: article has multiple issues- article is overlong and appears to have been conflated from tangential subjects, suggest separating out election content; article contains weasel words, biased statements and unverifiable statements which need to be removed; article needs structural cleanup once the first two issues have been corrected Please help improve this article if you can. (January 2015 ) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The Most Excellent José Luis Rodríguez ZapateroPrime Minister of SpainIn office 17 April 2004 – 21 December 2011MonarchJuan Carlos I1st DeputyMaría Teresa Fernández de la Vega Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba Elena Salgado2nd DeputyPedro Solbes Elena Salgado Manuel Chaves3rd DeputyManuel ChavesPreceded by José María AznarSucceeded by Mariano RajoySecretary General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' PartyIn office 22 July 2000 – 4 February 2012PresidentManuel ChavesDeputyJosé BlancoPreceded by Joaquín AlmuniaSucceeded by Alfredo Pérez RubalcabaLeader of the OppositionIn office 22 July 2000 – 16 April 2004MonarchJuan Carlos IPrime Minister José María AznarPreceded by Luis Martínez NovalSucceeded by Mariano RajoyMember of the Congress of DeputiesIn office 24 March 2004 – 27 September 2011ConstituencyMadridIn office 9 July 1986 – 2 April 2004ConstituencyLeón Personal detailsBorn (1960-08-04 ) 4 August 1960 (age 61) Valladolid, SpainPolitical partyPSOE (since 1979)Spouse(s)Sonsoles Espinosa ​ ​(m. 1990)​Children2Alma materUniversity of LeónSignature José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spanish:  ( listen ) ; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he would not stand for re-election in the 2011 general election and left office on 21 December 2011. Among the main actions taken by the Zapatero administration were the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the Iraq war, the increase of Spanish troops in Afghanistan; the idea of an Alliance of Civilizations; the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Spain; reform of abortion law; a peace negotiation attempt with ETA; increase of tobacco restrictions; and the reform of various autonomous statutes, particularly the Statute of Catalonia.