José Manuel Soria López (born 5 January 1958) is a Spanish politician and businessman. He was involved in the regional politics of the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

before being elected to the national congress and serving as Spain's minister of industry, energy and tourism from 2011 to 2016. He was forced to resign in April 2016 after being linked with offshore companies in the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...

Early life and education

Soria was born in

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

in 1958. He holds a graduate degree in economics and business studies.

Career

Soria was a market analyst for

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and

the Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America to the west, a ...

at the Spanish Embassy in Venezuela from 1980 to 1981. He then served as the head of the imports service at the ministry of trade in 1984. He was lecturer of macro economics and international economics at the Centre for Trade Studies in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

from 1984 to 1989. He also served as the head of foreign trade at the ministry of trade in 1985, advisor to the minister of finance from 1986 to 1987 and chief of staff of the general secretariat of commerce from 1988 to 1989. He was the mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria from 1995 to 2003. He was elected president of the Popular Party of the Canary Islands in October 1999. Then he served as the president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria from June 2003 to July 2007. He became a member of the regional parliament in June 2003 which he still holds. He also headed the party's group at the Canary Islands parliament. He served at the Canary Islands government as vice-president and treasury minister from July 2007 to October 2010. He was a member of the congress of deputies for

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

in the 10th Legislature. He was appointed minister of industry, energy and tourism to the cabinet led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

on 22 December 2011. In April 2016, following the publication of the

, it was learned that Soria, along with other members of his family, operated a network of companies including ones based in the Bahamas and Jersey. After initially denying having links to tax havens, he resigned on 15 April 2016 as industry minister. He also resigned from the leadership of his party in the Canary Islands and from his post as congressional deputy. In September 2016, the Spanish government selected him as a candidate for the executive director of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. Some Spanish politicians expressed their concerns about this candidacy. Due to the pressure of politicians and public opinion, he withdrew his application for that job.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soria, Jose Manuel 21st-century Spanish economists 1958 births Industry ministers of Spain Living people Mayors of places in the Canary Islands Members of the 6th Parliament of the Canary Islands Members of the 7th Parliament of the Canary Islands Members of the 10th Congress of Deputies (Spain) People from Las Palmas People named in the Panama Papers People's Party (Spain) politicians Academics from the Canary Islands