Joaquín Almunia

Infobox_Officeholder | name =Joaquín Almunia

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order =European Commissioner for Economic & Financial Affairs
term_start =April 24, 2004
term_end =
predecessor =Pedro Solbes
successor =Incumbent
order3 =Minister of Public Administrations of Spain
term_start3 =July 26, 1986
term_end3 =March 12, 1991
predecessor3 =Félix Pons Irazazábal
successor3 =Juan Manuel Eguiagaray Ucelay
primeminister3 =Felipe González
order2 =Minister of Employment of Spain
term_start2 =December 1, 1982
term_end2 =July 26, 1986
predecessor2 =Santiago Rodríguez Miranda
successor2 =Manuel Chaves González
primeminister2 =Felipe González
office4 = Leader of the Opposition in Congress
salary4 =
term_start4 = June 22, 1997
term_end4 = July 1, 2000
president4 = José María Aznar López
predecessor4 = Felipe González Márquez
successor4 = José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
birth_date =birth date and age|1948|06|17
birth_place =flagicon|Spain Bilbao, Spain
profession =politician
party =Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PES)|

Joaquín Almunia Amann (born 17 June 1948) is a Spanish politician and member of the European Commission responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs.

Born in Bilbao, he is married and has two children. He graduated in Law and Economics at the University of Deusto, and completed follow-up studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and the “Senior managers in Government” program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was an associate lecturer on Employment and Social Security Law at the University of Alcalá de Henares.

Almunia was chief economist of the Unión General de Trabajadores, a Spanish trade union, from 1976 to 1979. He was economist at the Council Bureau of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce in Brussels from 1972 to 1975.

Almunia was a Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) Member of the Cortes Generales from 1979 to 2004, representing Madrid. He was Minister of Employment and Social Security from 1982 to 1986 and Minister of Public Administration from 1986 to 1991, and was PSOE spokesperson from 1994 to 1997, then leader from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, he was the PSOE candidate for Prime Minister.

Almunia was director of the research program on "Equality and redistribution of income" at the Fundación Argentaria from 1991 to 1994. In 2002, he founded and was director of the progressive think tank "Laboratorio de Alternativas".

He first joined the Prodi Commission on 26 April 2004 as a successor to Pedro Solbes who resigned to join the new Zapatero Government and was re-appointed to the Barroso Commission in November 2004.

On 24 October 2006, EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia stated that the European Union could theoretically take Sweden to court for not joining the euro despite meeting all the economic criteria.

External links

* [http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/almunia/index_en.htm Official website]