Elena Salgado
First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
In office
11 July 2011 – 21 December 2011
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded byAlfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
Succeeded bySoraya Sáenz de Santamaría
Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
In office
7 April 2009 – 11 July 2011
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded byPedro Solbes
Succeeded byManuel Chaves
Minister of Economy and Finance
In office
7 April 2009 – 21 December 2011
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded byPedro Solbes
Succeeded byLuis de Guindos (As Minister of Economy and Competitiveness)
Cristóbal Montoro (As Minister of Finance and Public Administrations)
Minister for Public Administration
In office
9 July 2007 – 7 April 2009
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded byJordi Sevilla
Succeeded byManuel Chaves (As Minister of Territorial Policy)
Minister of Health
In office
18 April 2004 – 9 July 2007
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded byAna Pastor
Succeeded byBernat Soria
Personal details
Born
Elena Salgado Méndez

(1949-05-12) 12 May 1949
Ourense, Spain
Political partySocialist Workers' Party
Alma materTechnical University of Madrid, Complutense University of Madrid
ProfessionIndustrial Engineer, Economist

Elena Salgado Méndez (Spanish pronunciation: [eˈlena salˈɣaðo ˈmendeθ]) (born 12 May 1949 in Ourense) is a Spanish politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain and held several ministerial portfolios during her political career.

Education

Salgado is a graduate of industrial engineering.[1] She has a master's degree in business administration.[2]

Career

Early in her career, Salgado held high-level positions at the finance and industry ministries;[3] Josep Borrell was considered to be a mentor to her.[4] From 1996 until 1997, she briefly served as manager of the Teatro Real in Madrid.[5]

From 2004 until 2007, Salgado served as Minister for Health and Consumer Affairs. In this capacity, she tried to implement the so-called wine law, a project to prevent alcohol consumption among minors; she confronted Burger King and urged the company to withdraw advertising for XXL hamburgers; and she advocated for genetic selection of embryos for therapeutic purposes.[6] Most notably, she became known as the architect of legislation that banned smoking in public places.[7] In 2006, she was Spain's candidate for the post of Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO). Following a selection process with 11 candidates, she emerged as the only non-medical professional among the five finalists who also included Kazem Behbehani, Shigeru Omi, Margaret Chan and Julio Frenk; the position eventually went to Chan.[8]

As Minister for Public Administrations from 2007 until 2009, Salgado played a key role in overseeing the roll-out of a stimulus package of €8 billion ($10.7 billion) for infrastructure projects by city governments.[9]

Despite her Galician origin Salgado later served as a deputy for Cantabria province since the 2008 general election.[10]

From 2009 until 2011, Salgado served as minister of Economy and Finance and as first and second vice president of Spain, in the Socialist Party government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Amid a cabinet reshuffle,[11] she succeeded Pedro Solbes as Minister of Finance in April 2009 in what was considered a surprise move by Zapatero[12] and thereby became the first woman to hold this position.[13] At the time, she was one of the few to have been in all of Zapatero's governments, alongside María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, Elena Espinosa and Miguel Ángel Moratinos.[14] She held the office until the fall of the Zapatero Administration in the 2011 general election.

When Spain held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2010, Salgado chaired the meetings of its Economic and Financial Affairs Council. During her time as chair, EU finance ministers agreed on a deal that provided $560 billion in new loans and $76 billion under an existing lending program to countries facing instability amid the European debt crisis.[15] Also in 2010, she helped launch the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), then a $875 million fund to help poor farmers, alongside several of her counterparts – Tim Geithner, Jim Flaherty and Yoon Jeung-hyun –, World Bank president Robert Zoellick and Bill Gates.[16][17]

On 12 July 2011, Salgado became Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, equivalent to the position of First Deputy Prime Minister, a position that Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba decided to leave to prepare his candidacy for the 2011 general election.

In this capacity, Salgado led the central government's efforts in 2011 to force new budget controls on Spain's powerful autonomous communities – that control one-third of spending in the country – to ensure it meets its ambitious budget-deficit targets, including by establishing penalties for the regions that fail to meet their budget targets.[18][19] She also temporarily reinstated a wealth tax on people with net assets of more than €700,000 ($962,780) in 2011 and 2012, a measure designed to help close what was one of Europe's largest budget gaps at the time while easing widespread voter discontent with spending cuts.[20]

Life after politics

Since 2016, Salgado has been serving as president of the Asociación Española de Empresas de Consultoría (AEC), a lobby group.[21]

Other activities

International organizations

Corporate boards

  • Doppel Farmaceutici, Member of the Board of Directors[26]
  • Trilantic Europe, Member of the Advisory Council[27]
  • Saba Infraestructuras, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2020)[28]
  • Motion Rail, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2019)[29]
  • Nueva Pescanova, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2016)[30]
  • Chilectra, Member of the Board of Directors (2011-2015)[31]
  • Abertis Telecom, Member of the Board of Directors (2003-2004)
  • Hispasat, Member of the Board of Directors (1991-1996)[32]
  • Renfe Operadora, Member of the Board of Directors (1985-1991)[33]
  • Trasmediterránea, Member of the Board of Directors (1985-1991)[34]

Personal life

Salgado has a daughter.[35]

References

  1. ↑ Biography, El Pais, Retrieved 10 April 2009
  2. ↑ Sarah Morris; Ben Harding. "Spain's new economy minister". Reuters. Madrid. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  3. ↑ Jonathan House (April 8, 2009), Spain's Zapatero Shuffles Cabinet The Wall Street Journal.
  4. ↑ Miguel Ángel Noceda (April 8, 2009), Salgado, primera mujer al frente de Economía por su "acreditada eficacia" El País.
  5. ↑ Jones, Tim (November 11, 2009). "Flexible minister". European Voice. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  6. ↑ Miguel Ángel Noceda (April 8, 2009), Salgado, primera mujer al frente de Economía por su "acreditada eficacia" El País.
  7. ↑ Jonathan House (April 8, 2009), Spain's Zapatero Shuffles Cabinet The Wall Street Journal.
  8. ↑ Elena Salgado, entre los cinco finalistas para el puesto de director general de la OMS El Mundo, November 6, 2006.
  9. ↑ Jonathan House (April 8, 2009), Spain's Zapatero Shuffles Cabinet The Wall Street Journal.
  10. ↑ "Salgado Méndez, Elena". Spanish Congress (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 April 2009.
  11. ↑ "New Spanish steps | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  12. ↑ "Shuffle, shuffle". The Economist. The Economist Newspaper Limited. 8 April 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  13. ↑ Miguel Ángel Noceda (April 8, 2009), Salgado, primera mujer al frente de Economía por su "acreditada eficacia" El País.
  14. ↑ Miguel Ángel Noceda (April 8, 2009), Salgado, primera mujer al frente de Economía por su "acreditada eficacia" El País.
  15. ↑ Jack Ewing and James Kanter (May 10, 2010), Europe Officials Move to Carry Out Aid Package The New York Times.
  16. ↑ Ewen MacAskill (April 22, 2010), Bill Gates donates £20m to kickstart fund for farmers The Guardian.
  17. ↑ Fionna Douglas (April 22, 2010), One more promise kept: the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program World Bank.
  18. ↑ Jonathan House and Daniel de la Puent (January 20, 2010), Spain Looks to Broad Talks to Smooth Budget Consensus The Wall Street Journal.
  19. ↑ Jonathan House (July 25, 2011), Spain Will Require Regions to Curb Deficits, Its Finance Minister Says The Wall Street Journal.
  20. ↑ Jonathan House (September 16, 2011), Spain to Impose New Wealth Tax The Wall Street Journal.
  21. ↑ Santiago Millán Alonso (October 26, 2016), Elena Salgado, nueva presidenta de la asociación de consultoras El País.
  22. ↑ AfDB Annual Report 2010 African Development Bank (AfDB).
  23. ↑ 2010 Annual Report Asian Development Bank (ADB).
  24. ↑ 2011 Annual Report European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
  25. ↑ Elena Salgado, new Governor for Spain European Investment Bank (EIB), press release of April 7, 2009.
  26. ↑ Talgo nombra a exministra Elena Salgado presidenta de su filial Motion Rail EFE, October 2, 2019.
  27. ↑ Advisory Council Trilantic Europe.
  28. ↑ Saba nombra consejera a la ex ministra socialista Elena Salgado El Mundo, June 22, 2020.
  29. ↑ Talgo nombra a la ex ministra Elena Salgado presidenta de la filial que competirá con Renfe El Mundo, October 2, 2019.
  30. ↑ Nueva Pescanova nombra hoy su consejo, con Elena Salgado Expansión, February 25, 2016.
  31. ↑ Santiago Carcar (March 5, 2012), Endesa ficha a Elena Salgado como consejera para su distribuidora en Chile El País.
  32. ↑ Santiago Millán Alonso (October 26, 2016), Elena Salgado, nueva presidenta de la asociación de consultoras El País.
  33. ↑ Santiago Millán Alonso (October 26, 2016), Elena Salgado, nueva presidenta de la asociación de consultoras El País.
  34. ↑ Santiago Millán Alonso (October 26, 2016), Elena Salgado, nueva presidenta de la asociación de consultoras El País.
  35. ↑ Elena Moya (September 10, 2009), Hedge funds are not for hedging, says Spain's finance minister The Guardian.
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