José Luis Ábalos Meco (born 9 December 1959) is a Spanish politician serving as

member of the Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has 350 members elected from fifty-two constituencie ...

since 2009. A long-time member of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

, he was expelled from the party in 2025 for his involvement in a corruption scandal. He served as minister of Development (of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda since 2020) of the

Government of Spain The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the ...

from 2018 to 2021, in the cabinets chaired by

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has served as Prime Minister of Spain since 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since July 2017, having p ...

. He was also the Secretary of Organization of his party from 2017 to 2021.

Biography

Ábalos was born in

Torrent Torrent or torrents may refer to: * A fast flowing stream Animals * Torrent duck, a species of the family Anatidae * Torrent fish * Torrent frog, various unrelated frogs * Torrent robin, a bird species * Torrent salamander, a family of ...

, Valencia in 1959. He is the son of bullfighter Heliodoro Ábalos "Carbonerito" and the grandson of a Civil Guard officer, Julián Meco, who died in active service because of a

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

during the

Revolution of 1934 The Revolution of 1934 (), also known as the Revolution of October 1934 or the Revolutionary General Strike of 1934, was an uprising during the " black biennium" of the Second Spanish Republic between 5 and 19 October 1934. The Revolution of ...

. He joined the

Communist Youth Union of Spain The Communist Youth Union of Spain (, UJCE; also simply the Communist Youth) is a Marxist-Leninist youth political organization that fights for the interests of the working class and its youth, it was formed by young communists in the Spanish stat ...

at the age of 17 and in 1978 he officially joined the

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain (; PCE) is a communist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is currently part of Sumar. Two of its politicians are Spanish government ministers: Yolanda Díaz (Minister of L ...

(PCE). After leaving the PCE, Ábalos joined the

(PSOE) in 1981. Ábalos worked as a primary school teacher. Within the PSOE, he served as Secretary-General of the PSOE for the Valencia City North region (based around the district of Orriols) from 1988 to 1995 before he became PSOE Secretary-General for Valencia city in the latter year. He also stood as a candidate for Secretary-General of the PSOE in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

in 2001 and 2008, but was unsuccessful on both occasions. He was a member of Valencia City Council from 1999 to 2009 while also being a member of the Provincial Deputation of Valencia for the 2003–2007 period. For the Spanish General Election of 2008, he was selected as a candidate for the PSOE, being placed eighth on the list for Valencia Province. With the PSOE (as in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

) winning seven seats, Ábalos initially failed to be elected to the Spanish Congress, but in April 2009 he joined the Congress as a substitute for Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero, who had been appointed Secretary-General for Infraestructures within the

Ministry of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

. On 24 May 2017, he was appointed Acting

Spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of the Socialist Group in Congress after the victory of

in the party's

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a ...

. He served as such until June 19, 2017, when

Margarita Robles María Margarita Robles Fernández (; born 10 November 1956 in León) is a Spaniards, Spanish judge and politician, currently serving as Ministry of Defence (Spain), Minister of Defence since June 2018. From November 2019 to January 2020, she s ...

was appointed Spokesperson and Ábalos was appointed Secretary of Organization of the PSOE.

Minister

In June 2018, prime minister Pedro Sánchez appointed Ábalos as Minister of Development. Ábalos, along with ministers Robles and Batet were the only ministers in the first Cabinet of Pedro Sánchez who were also members of parliament. To avoid overlaps in their agendas, they resigned to its seats at the Congress of Deputies. The Prime Minister called for snap elections twice in 2019, with the PSOE winning both of them. In both elections, Ábalos ran for election, being elected MP for the Valencia constituency. After the November election, PSOE reached a deal with

Unidas Podemos Unidas Podemos (), formerly called Unidos Podemos () and also known in English as United We Can, was a democratic socialist electoral alliance formed by Podemos, United Left, and other left-wing to far-left parties in May to contest the 2016 S ...

to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

presided by Sánchez, and Ábalos was confirmed on its position as Minister, although the portfolio was renamed as Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda. In January 2020, Ábalos met in the guest area of the

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with

Delcy Rodríguez Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez (born 18 May 1969) is a Venezuelan lawyer, diplomat, and politician who has served as the vice president of Venezuela since 2018. Rodríguez has held several positions during the presidencies of Hugo Chávez and ...

, Vice President of Venezuela, despite the entry ban imposed by the

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. In July 2021, he was replaced by Raquel Sánchez Jiménez as minister of Transport. He also resigned as Secretary of Organization of PSOE. In September 2021 he became the president of the Interior Commission of Congress, and continued in this role after his re-election in the July 2023 election.

Operación Delorme

On 20 February 2024, Ábalos' former advisor Koldo García Izaguirre and his wife were arrested by

Central Operative Unit The Central Operative Unit (, UCO) is a specialized division of the Civil Guard (Spain), Civil Guard of Spain responsible for the investigation and prosecution of the most serious forms of crime and organized crime, whether national or internatio ...

officers on suspicion of illegally taking commission on sales of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Facing overwhelming calls to resign, Ábalos quit as president of the Interior Commission, but refused to resign as a member of Congress and left the Socialist Parliamentary Group to form part of the Mixed Parliamentary Group. Seven days later, the PSOE suspended Ábalos' membership, which the latter condemned as he had not yet been indicted. On 23 October, the

Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; ) is a high court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in certain kinds of crime, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those committed against the Crown and i ...

asked the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

to investigate Ábalos for his role in the Koldo Case. On 7 November 2024, the Supreme Court opened a case against Ábalos on suspicion of corruption, embezzlement, influence peddling and organised crime.

Positions held

* Secretary General of the Socialist Party of Valencia PSPV-PSOE (1995–2000) * President of the National Committee of the PSPV-PSOE (1997–1999) * Valencia city councillor (1999–2009) * Vice-secretary General of PSPV-PSOE (2000–2004) * Valencia regional assembly member (2003–2007) * Member of the Congress of Deputies representing Valencia constituency (2009–2018; 2019–) * Secretary General of PSPV in Valencia province (2012–2017) * Acting Spokesperson of the Socialist Party at the Spanish Congress of Deputies (2017) * Organizational Secretary of PSOE (2017–2021) * Minister of Development (2018–2020); Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (2020–2021)

Electoral history

References

External links

Biography at Spanish Congress siteSpanish Socialist Workers Party Transparency Portal – Jose Luis Ábalos MecoLa Moncloa – Jose Luis Abalos Meco – Minister of DevelopmentPersonal blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abalos Meco, Jose Luis 1959 births Government ministers of Spain Living people Members of the 9th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 10th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 11th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Politicians from Valencia Valencia city councillors Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Public works ministers of Spain Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 15th Congress of Deputies (Spain)