José Luis Ábalos Meco (born 9 December 1959) 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 gove ...

serving as

Member of the 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 Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members ele ...

since 2009. He has served as minister of Development (of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda since 2020) of the

Government of Spain gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , d ...

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 been Prime Minister of Spain since June 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since June 2017, having pr ...

. 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 s ...

(province 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 inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

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 a revolutionary strike movement that took place between 5 and 19 October 1934, during the black biennium of the Second Spanis ...

. He joined the

Communist Youth Union of Spain The Communist Youth Union of Spain ( es, Unión de Juventudes Comunistas de España, UJCE; also simply the Communist Youth) is the youth organisation of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE). The UJCE merged with the Federation of the Socialist Yout ...

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

Communist Party of Spain The Communist Party of Spain ( es, Partido Comunista de España; PCE) is a Marxist-Leninist party that, since 1986, has been part of the United Left coalition, which is part of Unidas Podemos. It currently has two of its politicians serving a ...

(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 ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...

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 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 ...

, he was selected as a candidate for the PSOE, being placed eighth on the list for

Valencia Province Valencia ( ca-valencia, València) is a province of Spain, in the central part of the autonomous Valencian Community. Of the province's over 2.5 million people (2018), one-third live in the capital, Valencia, which is also the capital of the au ...

. With the PSOE (as in 2004) 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 The Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group (french: Groupe Socialiste, SOC) is a primarily social-democratic political grouping in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was known as the Socialist Group prior to August 2017. The ...

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 l ...

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

Margarita Robles María Margarita Robles Fernández (born November 10, 1956 in León) is a Spanish judge and politician, currently serving as Minister of Defence since June 2018. From November 2019 to January 2020, she served as Acting Minister of Foreign Affai ...

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, winning the PSOE both of them. In both elections, Ábalos ran for election, being elected MP for the Valencian 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, is a democratic socialist electoral alliance formed by Podemos, United Left, and other left-wing to far-left parties in May to contest the 2016 Sp ...

to form a coalition government 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 Madrid–Barajas Airport with

Delcy Rodríguez Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez (born 18 May 1969) is a Venezuelan politician serving as the vice president of Venezuela since 2018. She was also Minister of Popular Power for Communication and Information of Venezuela from 2013 to 2014, Min ...

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

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. In July 2021, he was replaced by

Raquel Sánchez Jiménez Raquel Sánchez Jiménez (born 18 November 1975) is a Spanish lawyer and politician of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia who has been serving as Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of the Government of Spain since July 2021, in the ...

as minister of Transport. He also resigned as Secretary of Organization of PSOE.

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) * Councilor of the City Hall of Valencia (1999–2009) * Vicesecretary General of PSPV-PSOE (2000–2004) * Member of the County Council of Valencia (2003–2007) * Member of the Congress of Deputies representing the Constituency of Valencia (2009–2018; 2019–) * Secretary General of PSPV in the province of Valencia (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 People 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)