José Manuel Franco Pardo (born 1957) is a Spanish politician. A 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 ...

(PSOE), he has been the Secretary-General of the PSOE of the Community of Madrid since September 2017. Since 2021, he is the president of the

Consejo Superior de Deportes The National Sports Council, also called Supreme Sports Council or High Council for Sports (, CSD) is a Spanish government autonomous agency responsible for the promotion, planning and development of physical culture and sports activities of any ...

Early life

Born in

A Pobra do Brollón A Pobra do Brollón is a municipality in the province of Lugo in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It belongs to the comarca of Terra de Lemos. It has a population of 2,066 (Spanish 2010 Census) and an area of 175 km2. It is ...

(

province of Lugo Lugo is a province (Spain), province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense Province, Ourense, Ponteved ...

) on 8 September 1957, soon after his family moved to

Monforte de Lemos Monforte de Lemos is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in northwestern Spain, in the province of Lugo (province), Lugo, Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It covers an area of 200 km2 and lies 62 km from Lugo. As of 2017 it had a ...

. Franco, who dropped university studies in Mathematics early, graduated in law. From 1982 to 1987 he worked as math teacher. He is a career civil servant in the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

. Franco, who had joined the

(PSOE) in 1981, was a member of the Monforte de Lemos city council from 1984 to 1986.

Regional MP

He became a member of the

Assembly of Madrid The Assembly of Madrid or Madrid Assembly () is the Unicameralism, 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 during the S ...

for the first time after the 1995 regional election. He renovated his seat in the

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, May 2003, October 2003,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

elections. During this spell in the regional legislature, he has served as PSOE spokesperson in the Job Commission, president of the Budget Commission, and as spokesman in the Commission of Transport and Infraestructures. After the forced resignation of

Tomás Gómez Tomás Gómez Franco (born 27 March 1968) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), former Secretary-General of the PSOE Socialist Party of Madrid, Madrid branch. Until 2013, Gomez served as a member of t ...

in February 2015, he became the spokesman of the parliamentary group. After the 2015 election, he became deputy spokesman second to

Ángel Gabilondo Ángel Gabilondo Pujol (born 1 March 1949) is a Spanish university professor, currently serving as the 6th Ombudsman of Spain. Between 2009 and 2011, he was Minister of Education in José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Cabinet. In June 2011, he ...

PSOE regional leader in Madrid

In 2017, Franco endorsed

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 ...

in the PSOE primary election campaign, becoming one of Sánchez's most trusted advisors during the campaign. Franco defended the notion that in a federal plurinational state result of a potential reform of the Constitution, Madrid, as one of the entities of that State, in the case it had to be a "nation", so be it, "we should not be scared of the name". He contested the September 2017 primary election to the leadership of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of the Community of Madrid The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of the Community of Madrid (, PSOE–M), from 2004 to 2015 the Socialist Party of Madrid (, PSM–PSOE) and previously the Madrilenian Socialist Federation (), is the branch of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Par ...

(PSOE-M). He won the process (with a support of the 71% of the voters) and became the new Secretary-General of the organization.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, Jose Manuel 1957 births Living people Spanish municipal councillors Members of the 4th Assembly of Madrid Members of the 5th Assembly of Madrid Members of the 6th Assembly of Madrid Members of the 7th Assembly of Madrid Members of the 8th Assembly of Madrid Members of the 9th Assembly of Madrid Members of the 10th Assembly of Madrid Members of the Socialist Parliamentary Group (Assembly of Madrid) Members of the Socialist–Progressive Parliamentary Group (Assembly of Madrid) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 15th Senate of Spain