National
José Antonio Alonso named as the new PSOE Spokesperson in Congress
By h.b.
Mar 24, 2008 - 3:43 PM

It has been confirmed that the acting Minister for Defence, José Antonio Alonso, is to be the new Socialist party spokesman in Congress. There has been considerable press speculation over recent days that he would be put into the post, being seen as a close friend and contemporary to the Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Zapatero made the decision over the past week which he spent taking a break in the Doñana Nature Park in Huelva, and held a long meeting with Alonso this morning. It comes despite the concerns of Alonso about his lack of experience in parliamentary techniques.

Married with one son, José Antonio Alonso is 48 this Friday, and is childhood friend of the Prime Minister. He was named a judge of the penal court in Madrid in 1989, after becoming a normal judge at the age of just 25.

The appointment leaves the current spokesperson, Deputy Prime Minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, in a new role as a possible general trouble-shooter for the Government, and it is reported in Público newspaper that she will continue to hold the Friday afternoon press conferences which follow the weekly cabinet meetings.

Carmela Silva - Photo EFE

Earlier today, María del Carmen Silva was named as the Socialist Spokesperson in the Sentate. From Galicia she replaces Joan Lerma in the post, and was a Socialist deputy in the last legislature.