Manuel de la Rocha Rubí (born 1947) is a Spanish politician of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE). A member of the 1st and 2nd terms of the

Assembly of Madrid The Assembly of Madrid or Madrid Assembly ( es, Asamblea de Madrid) is the unicameral autonomous legislature of the Autonomous Community of Madrid since the approval of the Madrid Charter of Autonomy in 1983. It is elected every four years durin ...

as well as of the 5th, 9th and 10th

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

, he has served as Mayor of

Fuenlabrada Fuenlabrada () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,586, making it the region's fourth most populated municipality. Placename The etymology of ''Fuenlabrada'' comes from the contra ...

from 1979 to 1983 and as Minister of Education and Youth of the Community of Madrid from 1983 to 1985.

Biography

Born on 18 December 1947 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, he graduated in Law. Linked to Christian movements and organizations, he affiliated to the then clandestine PSOE and

Unión General de Trabajadores The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, General Union of Workers) is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). History The UGT was founded 12 August 1888 by Pablo Iglesias Posse ...

(UGT) in 1972. A professor of law in the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

, he left the post to run in the 1979 municipal election in Fuenlabrada. Following the PSOE victory in the election, he became mayor of the municipality on 19 April 1983. He worked part-time as lawyer to maintain income. He simultaneously ran as candidate both in the 1983 regional election and in the 1983 Fuenlabrada municipal election, successfully becoming member of the 1st

. Invested again as Mayor of Fuenlabrada, soon after being sworn to office for a second spell he handed in his resignation in order to become Minister of Education and Youth of the first government of the community of Madrid, presided by

Joaquín Leguina Joaquín Leguina Herrán (born 5 May 1941) is a Spanish politician and writer. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) he became the first President of the Community of Madrid, serving from 1983 and 1995. He also was Secretary-Gen ...

. He renounced as regional minister in September 1985, criticising the regional and economic policy of the Central Government, and was replaced by Jaime Lissavetzky. Running 7th in the PSOE for the 1987 Madrilenian regional election, he renovated his seat in the regional legislature.: Following the 1993 general election he became a member of the

for its 5th term (1993–1996). A leading figure of the critic faction Izquierda Socialista, he returned to Congress in March 2008, following the

2008 Spanish general election The 2008 Spanish general election was held on Sunday, 9 March 2008, to elect the 9th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as 208 of 264 seats in the Senate. After four y ...

. He was one of the members (along

José Antonio Pérez Tapias José Antonio Pérez Tapias (born 1955) is a Spanish politician, author and university professor. He was a member of the 8th and 9th terms of the Congress of Deputies. Biography Born on 3 June 1955 in Seville, he has however been based most of ...

and Juan Antonio Barrio de Penagos) of the Socialist Parliamentary Group in the Congress who decided not to take part in the September 2011 voting for the reform of the Spanish Constitution struck by the PSOE and the People's Party that sought to include (and successfully did so) the principle of "budgetary stability" in the Article 135 of the text. He ran again as candidate to the lower house in the November 2011 general election, although he was not elected legislator then. Nonetheless, de la Rocha became later a member of the 10th Congress of Deputies in July 2014, replacing the vacant seat of

Elena Valenciano María Elena Valenciano Martínez-Orozco (born 18 September 1960) is a Spanish politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, part of the Party of European Socialists. Political career Member of the European Parliament, 1999–2008 Followi ...

, elected to the European Parliament. De la Rocha, who was serving as secretary in the board of trustees of the Fundación Alternativas, announced his intentions to run in the PSOE primaries to select the party challenger to the post of

Mayor of Madrid The Mayor of Madrid presides over the Madrid City Council, the government body of the capital city of Spain. The mayor has the duty of boosting the local policies, it directs the action of the other executive bodies, leads the Local Executive Admin ...

in October 2018.

Decorations

* Grand Cross of the Orden of St. Raymond of Peñafort (1996):

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rocha Rubi, Manuel de la Members of the 1st Assembly of Madrid Members of the 2nd Assembly of Madrid Members of the 5th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 9th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 10th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Mayors of places in the Community of Madrid Government ministers of the Community of Madrid 1947 births Living people