Eduardo Serra Rexach is a Spanish politician and businessman, who served as the

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

from 1996 to 2000 during the government of

José María Aznar José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spai ...

. He is the only person to have held public office with all three governing parties in democratic Spain, having served in senior roles in the UCD, 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 ...

, and the Partido Popular.

Biography

Born 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 ...

on 19 December 1946, Serra attended primary and secondary school at Instituto Ramiro de Maeztu. He graduated with 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 1968. In 1974, he joined the State Lawyers Corps. He has been a member of various non-profit organisations; in July 1987, he was appointed Director General of Fundación de Ayuda contra la Drogadicción (FAD – Foundation for Help Against Drug Addiction), and has been president of the institution since March 1996. He has also been President of the Royal Board of Trustees of the

Museo del Prado The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...

(2000–2004), and president and founder of Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies. He is also the chairman of Everis Foundation. Serra is married to Luz del Camino Municio and has one son from a previous marriage.

Political activities

Serra entered politics in 1977 as part of the cabinet of the then Minister of Industry and Energy, Alberto Oliart, while

Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected Prime Minister of Spain, prime minister since the Second Spanish Republi ...

and the Union of the Democratic Centre were in power. He soon rose to become the head of staff of the cabinet and served in this capacity until 1979. From 1979 to 1982, he served as the general secretary of National Institute of Industry. In 1982, the new president Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo (also UCD) appointed Oliart as his Minister of Defence, who in turn chose Serra to be his undersecretary. Serra became the first civilian to hold this post. Later in 1982, the

won the elections. Spain's new prime minister,

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a retired Spanish politician who was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest-serving democratically- ...

, appointed

Narcís Serra Narcís Serra i Serra (born 30 May 1943) is a Spanish economist and politician, serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain from 1991 to 1995. Born in Barcelona in 1943, he was one of the leading figures of Catalan socialism during the Spanish tr ...

to the post of Minister of Defence, and Eduardo Serra as the first secretary of state for Defense. He assisted the government during Spain's accommodation into

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, until his resignation in 1987. In 1996 the Partido Popular came into power under

. Aznar called Serra back into political service, this time as his Minister of Defence. He served in the post until 2000, when he was replaced by Federico Trillo-Figueroa. Serra continues to hold positions in the private sector and various non-profit organisations, as detailed below.

Professional activities

Serra has held positions in many companies in the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

, including president of Telettra España (1998–2001) and

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

Talbot Talbot is a dormant automobile marque introduced in 1902 by British-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément ...

España (1992–1996), founder and chairman Airtel Móvil (1994–1996), vice-president and president of Cubiertas MZOV (1989–1995), and chair of

UBS UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major financial centres as the ...

Spain (2000–2006). He is president of Fundación everis since 2005 and in May 2010 he was appointed vice president of everis, a Spanish IT Consulting firm. From 1993 to 1996, he was the president of Instituto de Cuestiones Internacionales y Política Exterior (INCIPE – Institute for International and Foreign Policy Issues). He is a reserve officer in the Infantería de Marina.

References

Real Institute Elcano homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serra Rexach, Eduardo 1946 births Complutense University of Madrid alumni Living people People's Party (Spain) politicians Politicians from Madrid Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Ministers of defence of Spain Businesspeople from Madrid Members of the State Lawyers Corps Secretaries of State of Spain