Background
He was born on February 29, 1972, in Madrid. His father is an economist and businessman and his mother is a lawyer and public servant in the social security department.
Sánchez with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 26 June 2018
Sánchez in the PSOE campaign for the 2011 general election
He was born on February 29, 1972, in Madrid. His father is an economist and businessman and his mother is a lawyer and public servant in the social security department.
In 1990, Sánchez went to the Complutense University to study economics and business sciences. In 1993, he joined the PSOE after the victory of Felipe González in the elections that year.
In 1995, he graduated in Economic Science and Business Studies from the María Cristina Royal University College, a centre attached to the Complutense University of Madrid. He subsequently completed two postgraduate courses: a Master's Degree in EU Economics from the Free University of Brussels and a Diploma in Advanced European Economic and Monetary Integration Studies from the Ortega y Gasset University Institute.
In 2012, Pedro Sánchez received his Doctorate in Economics from Camilo José Cela University, where he lectured in economics.
Before entering a career in regional and national politics, Sánchez worked as a parliamentary assistant in the European Parliament, and as chief of staff to the United Nations high representative in Bosnia during the Kosovo War; he was also a Professor of Economics, publishing a version of his doctoral thesis “La nueva diplomacia económica europea”.
In 1999, he was chief of staff for the UN high representative to Bosnia at the height of the Kosovo War.
Among other posts, he later worked as an economic adviser to the PSOE’s federal executive committee and as a Madrid city councillor for five years.
After serving as MP between 2009 and 2011, he lost his position, going back to academia.
Sanchez finally returned to parliament in 2013 and was elected PSOE leader in 2014.
Half of the PSOE’s executive committee launched a coup against Sanchez that led to his resignation in October 2016. He said: “I won’t go against my party or against my electoral promises.”
However, seven months later, he once more stood for PSOE leader and beat his main rival Susana Diaz.
Back in October 2017, Sanchez, responding to a question from Euronews' reporter James Franey, said what he would have done to solve the Catalan crisis if he were prime minister.
Pressed on what specific concessions he would have given Catalonia, he said the autonomous government should be strengthened, while other things “that touch the sensibility of Catalans, such as the language, culture (and) education” must be respected by the central government.
Sanchez hinted that he would try to govern until the scheduled end of the parliamentary term in mid-2020.
Pedro Sanchez, the leader of Spain’s Socialist Party, came to power after he successfully ousted conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy, who lost a no-confidence vote in parliament on Friday.
He is also the first president in the history of the government of Spain that has not been elected by the Spanish people through elections.
He is an atheist.
Sánchez opposed the Catalan independence referendum and supported the Rajoy government’s decision to dismiss the Catalan government and impose direct rule on Catalonia in October 2017.
In June 2018 the ship Aquarius carrying 629 migrants that were rescued near Libya was denied entry to the Sicilian port by Italy's new Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Malta.
The Spanish government offered the Aquarius the chance to dock in the secure port of Valencia, Spain and the Italian navy offered full assistance and a marine escort for the trip.
In July 4, 2018, the Spanish Government accepted another NGO vessel, in this case a Spanish NGO called Open Arms carrying 60 migrants after Italy and Malta rejected again open a port for the ship. The same happened two weeks later.
The Prime Minister considered the immigration matter as a European matter and showed its solidarity with the German Government by accepting an agreement between Germany, Greece and Spain so this last two agreed to take care of part of the immigrants that live in Germany.
On 18 June 2018, Sánchez' government announced its intention to remove the remains of former dictator Francisco Franco from the Valle de los Caídos. On 29 June 2018, the Archdiocese of Madrid warned the Spanish government against any plans to exhume the remains of Franco without first obtaining agreement from interested parties and formally stated it is against any move of Franco's remains without the consent of his family and before consultation with the Catholic Church. In addition, in its statement, the Archdiocese of Madrid re-affirmed its position that, although the Valle de los Caídos is officially a national monument, the Catholic Church must be consulted on burial-related matters under agreements between the Spanish state and the Vatican. The announcement of the Archdiocese of Madrid was made after Pedro Sánchez confirmed that it was his intention to remove the remains of Franco from the Valle de los Caídos by the end of July.
On 24 August 2018, Sánchez's cabinet approved a decree that modifies two aspects of the 2007 Historical Memory Law to allow the exhumation of Franco's remains from the Valle de los Caídos. The decree, to become law, must be passed by a vote of the Congress of Deputies. The conservative People's Party (PP) and the center-right party Ciudadanos (Cs) have announced they will not support the decree. The PP further stated it will appeal the measure to the Constitutional Court arguing that using a decree to change the Historical Memory Law is not valid because the proposed modifications to the Historical Memory Law do not respond to a situation of urgent need. Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo stated the decree law requires the exhumation of the remains of Franco to take place between 30 days and 12 months of passage by the Congress of Deputies. The Congress of Deputies voted in favor of the exhumation on 13 September 2018.
In November 2018 the Mossos d'Esquadra reported the arrest of a Terrassa resident, who, angry with the plans to exhume Franco and having an arsenal of 16 weapons back home, allegedly planned to kill Sánchez.
In September 2018, Defense Minister Margarita Robles cancelled sales of laser-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia because of concerns over the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, but Sanchez ordered the sale to proceed, as he guaranteed Andalusian president Susana Díaz help to protect the jobs in the shipyards of the Bay of Cádiz, highly dependent on the €1.813 billion contract with Saudi Arabia to deliver a batch of 5 corvettes. In October 2018, in response to the killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Sanchez defended the decision to continue arms sales to Saudi Arabia and insisted on his government's "responsibility" to protect jobs in the arms industry.
Sánchez served as a Deputy (Member of Parliament) in the Congress for three terms representing Madrid, and also as Spain's official leader of the opposition from 26 July 2014 to 2016. He was elected as the Secretary-General of the PSOE via a primary election process, and is the first Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party to have been elected directly by its members. After the 2015 elections, the King of Spain, having consulted the parliamentary groups, asked Sánchez to try to form a government on 2 February 2016 but he was unsuccessful and another election was called for June 2016.
Sanchez is a basketball fan and player and can speak English and French, which he said he learned during his time abroad.
Aside from Spanish, Sánchez speaks fluent English and French.
Sánchez married María Begoña Gómez Fernández in 2006 and they have two daughters, Ainhoa and Carlota. The civil wedding was officiated by Trinidad Jiménez.
