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

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

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 (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spain. A member of the F ...

. 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 ( 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 go ...

, and the Partido Popular.

Biography

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

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 ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university lo ...

in 1968. In 1974, he joined the

State Lawyers Corps The State Lawyers Corps ( Spanish: ''Cuerpo de Abogados del Estado'') is a body of top civil servants in Spain, dependent on the Solicitor General of the State, itself organically integrated (currently) within the Ministry of Justice. It was c ...

. 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 Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from th ...

(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 Alberto Carlos Oliart Saussol (29 July 1928 – 13 February 2021) was a Spanish politician and executive. He was a government minister three times during the Spanish transition to democracy and chairman of Spanish Radio and Television Corporat ...

, 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 since the Second Spanish Republic and a key figure in th ...

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 Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo (; 14 April 1926 – 3 May 2008), usually known as Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, was Prime Minister of Spain between 1981 and 1982. Early life and career Calvo-Sotelo was b ...

(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 Spanish lawyer, professor, and politician, who was the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, and the 3rd Prime Minister of Spain since t ...

, 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 t ...

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, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, 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, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, 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 ...

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

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and then ...

Talbot Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talb ...

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 is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swis ...

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 Defence ministers of Spain Businesspeople from Madrid Members of the State Lawyers Corps Secretaries of State of Spain