People's Party of Spain in the U.S.: XVI National Congress of the People's Party of Spain

The Congress
U.S. Delegation
Photos
Delegates
Working Documents
Speeches
Leadership Team
The principles of the People's Party of Spain

The National Congress (Convention) is the general conference of the People's Party of Spain and is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. Held every three years, it is the highest decision making body of the party. At the March 31, 2008 meeting of the National Executive Committee of the People's Party of Spain, it was decided that the XVI National Congress would take place in Valencia, Spain, May 20 through 22, 2008. The Congress Organizing Committee was presided by Mr. Ramón Luis Valcárcel.

The People's Party of Spain in the United States was represented at the XVI National Party Congress in Valencia, Spain by two delegates: its President, Neir Taboada, and its Secretary General, Juan José Núñez. The US delegation participated in the Political and Party Rules conferences, met with delegates from the People's Party of Spain overseas, and attended a meeting of the Humanism and Democracy Foundation (H+D) at the headquarters of the FAES Foundation.

Delegation from the People's Party of Spain in the US
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National leadership of the People's Party of Spain
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Two types of delegates attend the National Congresses of the People's Party of Spain:

Unpledged: They are the members of the National Executive Committee, and the members of the Organizing Committee up to a maximum of 10.
Pledged: They are elected by party members in the local delegations of the party. The number of delegates per delegation is assigned by the National Executive Committee based on the number of party members and the results in the previous general elections.The number of pledged delegates must be at least four times larger than the number of unpledged delegates (i.e. at least 80% of the total).

New Generations (the youth branch of the People's Party of Spain) has a number of delegates proportional to its number of party members.

Delegates to the XVI National Congress (in Spanish)
Election of delegates (in Spanish)
Distribution of delegates by province (in Spanish)

Three working documents (all in Spanish) were debated and approved at the XVI National Congress of the People's Party of Spain.

Party Rules Proposal (in Spanish). Authors: Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, Rosa Estarás and Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
Political Platform Proposal (in Spanish). Authors: María San Gil, Alicia Sánchez-Camacho and José Manuel Soria.
Economic Proposal (in Spanish). Authors: Gerardo Camps, Engracia Hidalgo and Fátima Báñez.

Congress delegates presented a number of amendments to the working documents, among which the following three attracted considerable public and media interest:

Amendment to the Party Rules Proposal. Author: Francisco Álvarez-Cascos Fernández.
Amendment to the Political Platform Proposal. Author: Francisco Álvarez-Cascos Fernández.
Ammendment to the Political Platform Proposal. Authors: Alejo Vidal-Quadras Santiago Abascal, Carlos Delgado, Luis Fraga, Eugenio Nasarre and Vicente de la Quintana.

The following selected speeches are all in Spanish:

XVI Congress of the People's Party of Spain

Mariano Rajoy, President of the People's Party

The delegates attending the XVI National Congress of the People's Party of Spain gave their support to the following leadership team, which was elected with 84% of the cast ballots:

National Directors Committee

President: Mariano Rajoy Brey
Secretary-General: María Dolores de Cospedal García
Under-Secretary-General of Organization and Elections: Ana Mato Adrover
Under-Secretary-General of Local and Regional Policies: Javier Arenas Bocanegra
Under-Secretary-General of Communications: Esteban González Pons
Coordinator of Organization: Juan Carlos Vera Pro
Coordinator of Economy: Cristóbal Montoro Romero
Coordinator of Justice and Public Liberties: Federico Trillo-Figueroa Martínez-Conde
Coordinator of Social Participation: Ana Pastor Julián
Coordinator of International Relations: Jorge Moragas Sánchez-Brias
Coordinator of Elections: José Antonio Bermúdez de Castro Fernández
Coordinator of Local and Regional Policies: Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla
Secretary: José María Lassalle Ruiz
Secretary: Juan José Matarí Sáez
Secretary: Sandra Moneo Díez
Secretary: Álvaro Nadal Belda
Secretary: Gonzalo Robles OrozcoSecretario: Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga
Treasurer: Luis Bárcenas Gutiérrez
President of the National Committee of Member Rights: Alfonso Fernández Mañueco
Secretary of the National Committee of Member Rights: Carlos Argos
President of the National Electoral Committee: Miguel Arias Cañete
Secretary of the National Electoral Committee: Vicente Tirado Ochoa

Elected Members of the National Executive Committee

Alfonso Alonso Aranegui
Juan Carlos Aparicio Pérez
Rita Barberá Nolla
Leopoldo Barreda de los Ríos
José Manuel Barreiro Fernández
Ana María Botella Serrano
Gerardo Camps Devesa
Manuel Cobo Vega
Miguel Ángel Cortés Martín
María Dolores De Cospedal García
Jorge Fernández Díaz
Carlos Javier Floriano Corrales
Gerardo Galeote Quecedo
Concepción Gamarra Ruíz
José Manuel García-Margallo Marfil
María José García Pelayo
Juan José Güemes Barrios
Juan José Lucas Jiménez
Josefa Luzardo Romano
Teófila Martínez Saiz
Lourdes Méndez Monasterio
José María Michavila Núñez
Francisco José Millán Mon
María Ángeles Muñoz Uriol
Dolors Nadal i Aymerich
María Corina Porro Martínez
Vicente Rambla Momplet
Luisa Fernanda Rudi Úbeda
Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Jiménez
Antonio Sanz Cabello
Cristina Tavío Ascanio
Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca
Celia Villalobos Talero
Tomás Villanueva Rodríguez
Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez

Appointed Members of the National Executive Committee

María del Mar Blanco Garrido
Luis De Grandes Pascual
Alfredo Prada Presa
Elvira Rodríguez Herrer

Elected Members of the National Board of Directors

José María Álvarez del Manzano
Teresa Angulo
Joaquín Bascuñana
Margarita Cabrer
Sonia Castedo
Juan Cotino
Antón Damborenea
Mercedes de la Merced
José Antonio de Santiago Juárez
Fernando Díez Moreno
Alberto Fernández Díaz
Manuel Fernández González
Lucía Figar
Elena García Botín
Pablo García Pérez
Manuel Andrés González
Lourdes González García
Agustín Iglesias Caunedo
José Manuel Igual Ortiz
Jesús Labrador Encinas
Miguel Ángel Lafuente
Manuel Lamela
Álvaro Lapuerta
Jaime Raynaud
José Manuel Romay
Alfonso Rueda Valenzuela
María Jesús Ruiz Ruiz
Antonio Silván
Isabel Tocino
Carlos Urquijo

Mariano Rajoy, President of the People's Party of Spain, opened the “Forum of Dialog with Local Governments” on May 23, 2008 at the party's national headquarters.

Our principles: Liberty, Justice & Equality, and Solidarity		Rajoy reiterated that the party does not have a problem of lack of principles and ideas. “The principles of our party are very clear. We are a party that defends liberty, justice and equality, and solidarity. They are principles ingrained into our beliefs and that we should always defend ”, he stated. Rajoy spoke also about the position of the People's Party of Spain on the fight against terrorism and the Spanish Constitution of 1978, which the party “has defended for many years and will continue defending vigorously.”.
Fight against terrorism		The position of the party on the fight against terrorism is summarized by never negotiating politically with terrorist organizations and acting against terrorism with all the instruments allowed by the rule of law. Rajoy insisted that if the socialist government “rectifies, stops negotiations with ETA, and fights aggressively against terrorism, it would be absurd not to give it the support of our party”.
In defense of a Constitutional Spain		In his message to mayors of the People's Party of Spain, Rajoy had words to support the Spanish Constitution. “In 1978 the Spanish people approved a new Constitution and a form of state based on the autonomous communities (states or regions). That is what we defended then, and that is what we will continue defending in the future. We do not support a federal or confederate Spain”, he remarked.