María Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz (born 15 June 1949) is a Spanish politician and magistrate of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. During her political career, she served as first deputy prime minister, minister of the Presidency and government spokesperson under prime minister

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. O ...

from 2004 to 2010 and as president of the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

from 2018 to 2022, being the first first female deputy prime minister and the first female president of the advisory council.

Early life and career

Fernández de la Vega is the daughter of Wenceslao Fernández de la Vega Lombán who was a public servant during Franco's dictatorship, a delegate of the ministry of employment headed at that time by Fermín Sanz Orrio (1957–1962). She was born in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

in 1949. She earned a degree in law from the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

in the early 1970s. In 1974 she entered Spain's ''Cuerpo de Secretarios Jurídicos Laborales'', a specialised body of the civil service. She is also the niece of Jimena Fernández de la Vega, known as one of the first women to graduate in Medicine in Spain.

Political career

Fernández de la Vega started her political career in the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia, remaining a member of it until 1979. From 1982 until 1985, she was the director of the advisory cabinet of the minister of justice, and in 1985 she was appointed general director of services at the ministry of justice. In 1986 she became a member of the legal cooperation committee of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

. In 1990, she was chosen as a spokesperson of the general council of judicial power by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

(1994–1996). On 13 May 1994, the then Justice Minister Juan Alberto Belloch appointed her as the 1st

Secretary of State for Justice The secretary of state for justice is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Ministry of Justice. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Since the office's inception ...

. Fernández de la Vega was elected a member of the Spanish Congress for Jaén for 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 ...

candidacy for the 1996–2000 term, being re-elected in the elections of 2000 for

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

. During this term she became general secretary of the Socialist parliamentary group. In the Spanish general election of 2004 she became a member of the parliament for

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 ...

, and on 18 April of that year she was appointed first vice president and minister of Presidency, remaining the incumbent of each. Fernández de la Vega was the first woman to take on the functions of the

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 ...

in the history of Spanish democracy, when, on 24 April 2004, during the first official visit abroad of Spain's Prime Minister, Zapatero, she presided over the Council of Ministers. In March 2006, the first vice president went on an African tour with the state secretary for cooperation, Leire Pajín, visiting

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, in whose capital,

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

, they celebrated

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

and closed the forum "Spain-Africa: Women for a better world". For the 2008 elections, Fernández de la Vega headed the list for the PSOE in

. She left all the political offices in October 2010.

President of the Council of State

After leaving the first political line, on 3 July 2018, prime minister

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 ...

chose her to chair over the

, the supreme consultative council of the Spanish government. She assumed the office on 5 July 2018, becoming the first woman to chair the council.

Other activities

* Judges for Democracy (Jueces para la Democracia), Member * Graduate School for Global and International Studies,

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

, Member of the Advisory Board In addition, Fernández de la Vega has written many papers, including ''La reforma de la jurisdicción laboral'' and ''Derechos humanos y Consejo de Europa''.

Recognition

* On 7 October 2006 Fernández de la Vega received the Tomás y Valiente Award in Fuenlabrada, Madrid. * On 6 November 2010 Fernández de la Vega was granted with the Grand Cross of the

Order of Charles III The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III (, originally ; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OC3) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bes ...

.
Royal Decree 1489/2010, Spanish Official Journal.

References

External links

Website of the Ministry of Presidency of Spain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez De La Vega, Maria Teresa 1949 births Living people Politicians from Valencia Complutense University of Madrid alumni Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Members of the 6th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 7th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 8th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 9th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Government ministers of Spain Women government ministers of Spain Deputy prime ministers of Spain Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class 21st-century Spanish women politicians Members of the General Council of the Judiciary Secretaries of State of Spain 20th-century Spanish women politicians