José Blanco López (born 6 February 1962), also known as Pepe Blanco, is a Spanish socialist politician. He was the deputy general of 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 ...

(PSOE) and was the

Minister of Public Works and Transport The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MITMA) (), traditionally known as the Ministry of Development (MIFOM), is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for preparing and implementing the government policy on land, ai ...

from 2009 to 2011.

Political career

Blanco López began his political career in 1986 when he was elected to the Spanish Senate. In 1996 he was elected to the

Spanish Congress The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has 350 members elected from fifty-two constituencie ...

as a deputy for

Lugo Province Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the nort ...

and was re-elected in 2000, 2004 and 2008. He is a trustee of th
Fundacion IDEAS
Spain's Socialist Party's think tank. Blanco López was appointed Minister of Public Works and Transport in a cabinet reshuffle on 7 April 2009, replacing

Magdalena Álvarez Magdalena Álvarez Arza is a Spanish Politician, who from 2004 to 2009 served as Minister of Public Works (Fomento). She was born in San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernand ...

. On July 11, 2011, he was appointed spokesperson of the government without losing previous duties.

Controversy

On 28 December 2011 Spain's Supreme Court opened a probe into Blanco López's conduct on charges of influence peddling and accepting bribes. In 2013, the

Spanish Supreme Court The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. The court has original jurisdiction over cases against high-ranking officials of the Kingdom and over cases regarding the legalization of political parties. It also has u ...

dismissed the case against him for those charges. In 2011, José Blanco received the Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos III from the new prime minister,

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 ...

Other activities

Enagás Enagás, S.A. (, originally an initialism for ) is a Spanish energy company and European transmission system operator (TSO), which owns and operates the nation's gas grid. The firm also owns four liquefied natural gas regasification terminal ...

, Independent Member of the Board of DirectorsBoard of Directors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco Lopez, Jose 1962 births Living people People from Lugo 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) Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Government ministers of Spain MEPs for Spain 2014–2019 Public works ministers of Spain