| Aznar appointed his successor The chairman of the Spanish government, Jose Maria Aznar, has appointed his party successor. It was Mariano Rajoy. Tomorrow his candidacy will be approved by the governing council of the ruling People's Party, at the head of which Rajoy will lead the fight for the post of prime minister in the elections in March 2004. Back in January last year, Aznar announced that he would not run for a third term. Perhaps he sees his political future in the leadership of the European Union.
Last weekend, the intrigue with the search for a successor ended. Of the three possible candidates, only one remained. Aznar gathered all the candidates for lunch at his Moncloa residence and announced his choice over the meal.
Until this day, Mariano Rajoy was the first deputy prime minister. At the same time, he served as the “talking head” of the government. He is 48 years old, got married seven years ago, and has one child. A lawyer by training, a property registrar by profession, Rajoy plunged headlong into politics in his youth. Over the years, under Aznar, he held five ministerial posts, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Education and Culture. He became famous as the “right hand” and specialist in solving sensitive problems of the prime minister. It was Rajoy who led the election campaign in 2000, when the People's Party achieved an absolute victory. He also resolved the crisis surrounding the sunken tanker Prestige in 2002, when the government was accused of a belated response to an environmental disaster.
Rajoy's main rival in the 2004 elections will be the leader of the Socialist Workers' Party of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. He expressed “satisfaction” with the appointment of a competitor. Socialists are ironic, because for them Rajoy is “Aznar’s clone.” But there are also differences - the successor is famous for his mockery, while Aznar has problems with humor. A native of Galicia - the homeland of Generalissimo Franco and the ancestors of Fidel Castro - Rajoy skillfully hides behind self-irony the traits of a classic Galician, which are ridiculed in jokes in Spanish-speaking countries: stubbornness and stubbornness.
Rajoy is famous as an avid cyclist and gambler. He knows how to find time to go to football. Another passion of his is Havana cigars, and he stubbornly avoids smoking bans in the council building, once declaring: “Where I lead, I make the rules. I light my first cigar after breakfast, and before bed I smoke as many cigars as time allows. From ten to a dozen." Andrey ZLOBIN |
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