Rodrigo Rato - Politician

Politician

Rodrigo de Rato was born in Madrid, into a rich textile owning family from Asturias. He is the great grandson of Faustino Rodríguez-San Pedro and the son of Ramón Rato. De Rato attended a Jesuit school before studying law in the Complutense University.

In 1971 he went to University of California, Berkeley, where he received an MBA in 1974 from the Haas School of Business. In 1975 he became involved in the family business, first in Fuensanta, an Asturian mineral water company, and then in two Madrid construction firms. He also became involved in expanding the Cadena Rato chain of radio stations.

In 1977 he joined the newly formed Popular Alliance (AP), a party containing ex ministers of Franco founded by Manuel Fraga, a close personal friend of his father. In December 1979 he was elected to their national executive committee, and became secretary of their economic commission, and in February 1981 became one of the five Secretaries General of the party, and was considered to be their economic expert, supporting tight controls on public spending, and an emphasis on the supply side of economics. In October 1982 he was elected as AP member of the Cortes Generales for Cádiz in spite of having no connection to this Andalucian town. He represented the area until 1989 and subsequently represented Madrid from 1989-2000.

The 1982 election represented a defeat for the AP, and the beginning of the long rule of the PSOE and Felipe González. Until 1984 he was the Secretary of the parliamentary group. He then became their economic affairs spokesman where he impressed the party with his attacks on the PSOE's economic policies. He was seen to be on the liberal wing of the party.

When Fraga resigned from the leadership in December 1986 Rato backed Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez who lost the leadership race to Antonio Hernández Mancha, but managed to keep his positions within the party. During these years he also continued his business career, becoming President of Fuensanta. In June 1989 Fraga again became interim President after the generally acknowledged failure of the leadership of Hernández Mancha. The party became the slightly more inclusive People's Party (PP). Rato was given shared responsibility over the elections with Francisco Álvarez-Cascos Fernández, the new party Secretary General. He was a close supporter of José María Aznar, who was voted as the new PP leader on 4 September.

On 29 October, the PP lost the general election, though his role in the campaign gave him national prominence. Afterwards he was appointed party spokesman. On 2 April 1990 his father sold the family stake in Cadena Rato for 5 billion pesetas. In June 1991 he stopped being President of Fuensanta, but remained on the board until 1993. On 6 June that year the PP lost another general election to PSOE. In the 12th National Congress in January 1996 he was confirmed as one of the 3 Vice secretaries of the party.