Soria, José Manuel

Jose Manuel Soria López ( Spanish: José Manuel Soria López ; born on January 5, 1958 , Las Palmas de Gran Canaria ) is a Spanish politician. Member of the People's Party . From December 22, 2011 to April 15, 2016, he held the position of Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism in the government of Mariano Rajoy .

Soria was born to a family of fruit exporters and grew up in the Canary Islands . Received economic education. 1984-1989 - Associate Professor of Microeconomics and International Economics at the Center for Business Education in Madrid . At the same time he worked in the Ministry of Commerce. In 1995, he was elected mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and held this position until 2003. Since October 1999, Soria headed the People’s Party in the Canary Islands. In 2003–2011, he was a member of the Canary Islands Parliament and, since 2003, he has been the chairman of the People’s Party faction. In the period from June 2003 to July 2007 - Chairman of the Government of Gran Canaria . In 2007, Soria was successfully re-elected to this post, but was soon forced to resign as a result of a vote of no confidence. From July 2007 to October 2010, Soria served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Canary Islands. In 2011, he was elected to the lower house of the Spanish parliament . In April 2016, he resigned in connection with the offshore scandal with the “Panamanian documents” . In September 2016, the Spanish government proposed Soria’s candidacy for the position of executive director of the World Bank , a few days later, under pressure from the public who was dissatisfied with this decision, José Manuel Soria withdrew his candidacy.