José Manuel Soria

José Manuel Soria López ( born January 5, 1958 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria ) is a Spanish politician of the Partido Popular (PP ).

Life and career

Soria is the son of a fruit exporter.

He grew up in the Canary Islands and studied economics. After his graduation, he was 1984-1989 Lecturer of Microeconomics and International Economics at the Centro de Estudios Comerciales de Madrid and worked in this period, the Ministry of Trade.

In the local elections in 1995, he was elected mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. His re- election in 1999 was successful, and he held this post until 2003. Since October 1999 he has been Chairman of the Partido Popular in the Canary Islands. From 2003 to 2011 he was a deputy in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, where it is since 2003 leader of the PP. Then he was from June 2003 to July 2007 President of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, the island government of Gran Canaria. In 2007 he was re-elected while, but had the office at the beginning of the legislature for a vote of no confidence exits.

Between July 2007 and October 2010, he was Vice President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero under President. Since 2011 he has been a deputy in the Congreso de los Deputies for the constituency of Gran Canaria. On 22 December 2011, he was appointed Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade in the Cabinet Rajoy.

Soria is married and has two children.