Rosa Díez
Rosa Díez | |
|---|---|
| Spokesperson of Union, Progress and Democracy Parliamentary Group in the Congress of Deputies | |
| In office 15 December 2011 – 13 January 2016 | |
| Member of the Congress of Deputies | |
| In office 1 April 2008 – 13 January 2016 | |
| Constituency | Madrid |
| Spokesperson of Union, Progress and Democracy | |
| In office 26 September 2007 – 11 July 2015 | |
| Succeeded by | Andrés Herzog |
| Member of the European Parliament for Spain | |
| In office 20 July 1999 – 28 August 2007 | |
| President of the Spanish Socialist Delegation in the European Parliament | |
| In office 20 July 1999 – 19 July 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Manuel Medina Ortega |
| Succeeded by | Enrique Barón Crespo |
| Member of Basque Parliament | |
| In office 8 January 1987 – 6 July 1999 | |
| Constituency | Biscay |
| Minister for Commerce, Consumption and Tourism of the Basque Government | |
| In office 4 October 1991 – 1 July 1998 | |
| President | José Antonio Ardanza |
| Preceded by | Jon Imanol Azúa (Industry and Commerce) Joseba Arregi Aranburu (Culture and Tourism) |
| Succeeded by | Belén Greaves Badillo |
| Councillor for the Municipality of Güeñes | |
| In office 20 June 1987 – 15 June 1991 | |
| Member of the General Assemblies of Biscay | |
| In office 24 May 1983 – 15 April 1987 | |
| Member of the Foral Diputation of Biscay | |
| In office 3 May 1979 – 10 March 1983 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rosa María Díez González 27 May 1952 Sodupe, Biscay, Spain |
| Political party | UPyD (2007–2020) PSOE (1977–2007) |
| Other political affiliations | UGT (1976–2007) |
| Spouse | José Ignacio Fernández de Ochoa |
| Children | Two |
Rosa María Díez González (born 27 May 1952) is a Spanish politician from Union, Progress and Democracy, UPyD deputy in the Congress of Deputies from 2008 to 2016.
When she was a member of the PSOE, she defined herself as a social democrat exclusively. However, her way of thinking evolved towards both social democracy and political liberalism and, consequently, she defined herself as a social liberal politician who endorses free-market economics, civil liberties and the welfare state when she was UPyD's leader and spokesperson. Likewise, Rosa Díez went from being an autonomist for most of her socialist period to defending centralism, thereby being this difference regarding the form of State, as well as her rejection of anti-terrorist policy of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's socialist government, the main reason why she left the PSOE. Although she claimed to be a republican both in the PSOE and in UPyD, she ended up proclaiming herself a monarchist person "in self-defence". In addition, Rosa Díez is a secularist politician who stands up for secularity as "respect for all religious beliefs, with the exception of Islam and any other religion which isn't respectful of human rights". She also professes herself to be a constitutionalist, a feminist, a pro-Europeanist, a progressive, a Spanish patriot, a reformist and an upholder of liberal democracy.
She positioned herself on the centre-left unequivocally throughout her time as a socialist activist. Nevertheless, Rosa Díez has located herself on the centre-left and cross-sectionalism simultaneously since she left the PSOE, defending what she deems progressive from anywhere on the left–right political spectrum vehemently and asseverating that the political centre, which can only be understood, to her mind, as moderation and equidistant space between left and right, is nothingness. Furthermore, she defines herself as a "radical democrat who strives for democracy's regeneration by playing according to the rules"; expressed differently, as a "pro-institutional leader whose radical politics, moderate in form and revolutionary in essence, bothers the establishment", for she wants to "transform politics by bringing off substantial, in-depth changes from within institutions". Hence, owing to her self-proclaimed cross-sectionalism and radicalism, Rosa Díez has been linked to radical centrism.