VZCZCXRO1704
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHMD #0691/01 1760733
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 240733Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4975
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 3474

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000691 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN'S OPPOSITION PARTIDO POPULAR: RAJOY FIRMLY 
IN CONTROL FOR NOW, BUT MUST SHOW RESULTS 
 
REF: MADRID 537 
 
MADRID 00000691  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Mariano Rajoy, the embattled head of Spain's main 
opposition Partido Popular (PP), was re-elected as party 
leader on June 21 during the three-day PP congress held in 
Valencia.  As reported in REFTEL, Rajoy's leadership had been 
challenged on several fronts since his party lost a second 
straight national election to President Zapatero's Spanish 
Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and it was unclear if he would 
be able to hold on to power.  Over the past few weeks, 
would-be challengers found insufficient support for their 
candidacy to unseat Rajoy and faded back into the woodwork, 
leaving Rajoy to run unopposed.  He further distanced himself 
from the shadow of former President Jose Maria Aznar by 
announcing a younger, more moderate party secretariat on June 
19 that won plaudits from even left-leaning national 
newspapers, and now appears to be basking in the glory of a 
successfully-completed party congress.  However, many in 
Spain believe Rajoy has overcome only the first in a long 
series of leadership battles in advance of the next round of 
national elections in 2012, and he will need to show positive 
results in off-year regional and European elections if he 
hopes to have a third consecutive chance to grab the brass 
ring of the Spanish presidency. 
 
¶2. (U) Approximately 3,025 PP delegates gathered from 20-22 
June in the seaside city of Valencia, Spain, to approve the 
party's political platform for the next four years, under the 
motto "We Grow Together."  Over 84% of these delegates voted 
for Rajoy to continue as party leader.  This vote tally was 
the lowest of any PP leader since the party was reformed in 
1989, but should serve to silence critics for now.  Rajoy was 
coming off a tough 100-day period following the March 9 
election loss and had to deal with tumult and dissension in 
his party's ranks and open criticism from staunch PP members 
such as Madrid Regional President Esperanza Aguirre, former 
Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja, Congressional foreign 
policy spokesman Gustavo Aristegui, party communications 
secretary Gabriel Elorriaga, and PP campaign strategist Juan 
Costa.  In addition, the popular leader of the PP's political 
allies in the Basque Country, Maria San Gil, stated publicly 
in May that she had lost confidence in the leadership of 
Rajoy and his team.  Nevertheless, opposition to Rajoy proved 
to be a mile wide and an inch deep and faded away once it 
became clear that no single alternative candidate had enough 
support to overthrow the sitting leader. 
 
//COMMENT// 
 
¶3. (SBU) Rajoy appears to have put to rest for the time being 
any doubts about his PP leadership, and his new team is 
receiving generally positive reviews from across the 
political spectrum.  Pundits are highlighting not only the 
collective experience and competence of the group gained from 
positions at the local, regional, and national levels, but 
also their backgrounds (including a single working mother) 
designed to present a more moderate face and hopefully appeal 
to a wider swath of Spanish voters.  We believe Rajoy is 
definitely strengthened coming out of the party conference 
and has a mandate to reform the party in his own image--but 
his new team will be expected to achieve results quickly if 
he hopes to lead the party's national ticket in 2012.  As we 
have reportedly previously, we believe Rajoy owes his 
longevity as much as anything to the lack of a credible 
successor within his own party, but many are waiting in the 
wings should he stumble again.  Key off-year elections are 
coming up in the Basque Country (scheduled for early 2009), 
Galicia (June 2009), and the European Parliament (June 2009), 
and PP supporters will demand to see positive results as 
reward for having remained patient while Rajoy finds his way. 
 
 
//RAJOY'S NEW TEAM - BIO NOTES// 
 
¶4. (U) Maria Dolores de Cospedal Garcia (PP Secretary 
General, replaces Angel Acebes): The current party president 
in the state of Castilla La Mancha (elected in 2006), 
Cospedal is the first female to hold the position of PP 
Secretary General.  She was born in Madrid in 1965 and holds 
a law degree from the private university of San Pablo-CEU. 
Cospedal began her political career in 1996 when she was 
appointed Executive Advisor to the Minister of Labor and 
served until 1998 when she left to serve as the Labor Attache 
at the Spanish Embassy in Washington.  From 1999 until 2004, 
she held different jobs within the Ministry of Labor and 
Social Affairs, and later the Ministry of Interior.  She has 
worked with Esperanza Aguirre in the Madrid Regional 
government and the two reportedly maintain good relations. 
 
MADRID 00000691  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Under Cospedal's leadership, the Partido Popular in 
Castilla-La Mancha has grown stronger and is narrowing the 
electoral gap with the Socialists.  Cospedal is a single 
mother with one son, and reportedly likes classical music, 
ballet, painting, and reading. 
 
¶5. (U) Esteban Gonzalez Pons (PP vice secretary for 
communication, replaces Gabriel Elorriaga): Born in Valencia 
in 1964, Gonzalez Pons is the PP leader in Valencia whose 
party during the March 9 election did much better in that 
region than the Socialist list led by current Vice President 
Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega.  He began his political 
career in the early 1990s and in 1993 became the youngest 
Spanish senator ever elected (29 years old).  From 2003-2004 
he served in the Valencia Regional government as the Minister 
of Culture, Education, and Sports.  He is considered a rising 
star in the party and is close to current Valencia Regional 
President Francisco Camps.  He is married to Piluca Bertolin 
and the couple are expecting a baby girl in July 2008.  He 
and his wife have a total of five children from previous 
marriages. 
 
¶6. (U) Ana Mato (PP vice secretary for organization and the 
electorate, replaces Sebastian Gonzalez): Born in Madrid in 
1959 with a degree in Sociology and Political Sciences, Mato 
has been involved with the PP and its predecessor party since 
1984 and remains close to former President Aznar.  From 1991 
until 1993, she was a member of the regional congress of 
Castilla y Leon, and served in the national congress from 
1993-2004.  She served in the European Parliament beginning 
in 2004, until Rajoy brought her back to Spain and put her 
high on his Madrid electoral list during the March 9 national 
elections.  Mato is married and has three children. 
 
¶7. (U) Javier Arenas (PP vice secretary for territory, new 
position): The current president of the PP in Andalucia was 
born in Seville in 1957 and has a law background and an MBA. 
Arenas has been affiliated with Spain's center right parties 
since democracy was restored in 1979, and entered national 
politics in 1989 when he was elected on a PP list from 
Sevilla.  After the 1993 general elections, Aznar sent him 
back to Andalucia to rebuild the party there and he 
immediately produced results, if not an outright win, in the 
famed PSOE stronghold.  During the first Aznar government in 
1996, he served as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, and 
later as Minister of Public Administration in 2002.  He also 
held high-profile posts as PP Secretary General and in 2003 
as Second Vice President of the Spanish government.  Since 
2004, he has again been the head of the PP in Andalucia and 
continues to narrow the electoral distance with the PSOE.  He 
is married to Macarena Olivencia and has three children. 
AGUIRRE