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Enrique Fuentes Quintana

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Enrique Fuentes Quintana
Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
In office
5 July 1977 – 25 February 1978
Prime MinisterAdolfo Suárez
Preceded byAlfonso Osorio
Succeeded byFernando Abril Martorell
Personal details
Born13 December 1924
Carrión de los Condes (Palencia), Spain
Died6 June 2007(2007-06-06) (aged 82)
Madrid, Spain
Political partyIndependent
Alma materComplutense University of Madrid

Enrique Fuentes Quintana (1924 – 2007) was a Spanish economist, academic and politician, who served as deputy prime minister of Spain between 1977 and 1979 in the first cabinet after the Francoist State.

Early life and education

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Fuentes was born in Carrión de los Condes, Palencia, on 13 December 1924.[1] His family were mostly jurists and farmers.[2] He held a bachelor's degree in law (1948) and a PhD in political science and economics (1956), both of which he received from the University of Complutense in Madrid.[1]

Career

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Fuentes taught economics at different universities, namely the University of Valladolid (1956 – 1958), the Complutense University of Madrid (1958 – 1978) and at the National University of Distance Education (UNED; 1978 – 1990).[1][3] He was one of the economists credited with the success of Spanish economy in the 1960s.[3] He served as the head of the research department at the Ministry of Finance.[4] He was also the editor of a reformist monthly magazine, Información Comercial Española.[4] In 1969, he became the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.[5] He served as the president of the Bank of Spain.[3]

Fuentes was appointed deputy prime minister for economy to the cabinet led by Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez in 1977.[6] Fuentes developed a rationalization program in 1977 which constituted the basis for Spain to have an opportunity to be granted EEC membership.[7] He was in office until 22 February 1978 when he resigned from office due to his marginalization in the cabinet.[8][9] Fuentes tried to follow the promises of the structural reforms in economy which were included in the Moncloa Pacts.[10] These reforms required to reduce the production of steel and to nationalize the production of electricity among the others.[8] However, Fuentes's initiatives were not backed by conservatives supporting the cabinet, leading to his resignation.[8] Fernando Abril Martorell succeeded him as deputy prime minister.[8] Fuentes's resignation was one of the reasons for the cabinet to adopt much more right-wing policies.[10] After leaving office Fuentes returned to teaching post and became emeritus professor at UNED.[10]

In 1989 Fuentes was awarded the Asturias Award for social sciences.[11]

Death

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Fuentes died of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 82 in Madrid on 6 June 2007.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Muere Enrique Fuentes Quintana, figura clave de la Transición". El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid. 7 June 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  2. ^ a b "El mundo económico despide con elogios a Enrique Fuentes Quintana". El Diario (in Spanish). 8 June 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Omar G. Encarnación (2008). Spanish Politics: Democracy After Dictatorship. Cambridge; Malden, MD: Polity Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-7456-3993-2.
  4. ^ a b Christian Leitz; David J. Dunthorn (1999). Spain in an International Context, 1936-1959. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 316. ISBN 9781571819567.
  5. ^ Francisco Comin (January 2006). "Reaching a political consensus for tax reform in Spain". International Studies Program.
  6. ^ Joseph Harrison (October 2006). "Economic crisis and democratic consolidation in Spain, 1973-82". Working Papers in Economic History.
  7. ^ Andrew Graham; Anthony Seldon (1991). Government and Economies in the Postwar World: Economic Policies and Comparative Performance, 1945-85. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415072885.
  8. ^ a b c d Paul Preston (1990). The Triumph of Democracy in Spain. London: Routledge. p. 140. ISBN 9780415043144.
  9. ^ Angel Viñas (January 1979). "Gold, the Soviet Union, and the Spanish Civil War". European History Quarterly. 9 (1): 105. doi:10.1177/026569147900900106. S2CID 144358061.
  10. ^ a b c Eamonn Rodgers, ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture. London: Routledge. p. 54. ISBN 9780415263535.
  11. ^ "Enrique Fuentes Quintana. Prince of Asturias Award for social sciences 1989". Asturias Awards. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
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