Joaquín Almunia is the member of the European Commission responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs (since 26 April 2004).

Almunia, born in Bilbao in Spain on 17 June of 1948, is married and has two children. He graduated in Law and Economics at the University of Deusto. He completed follow-up studies at L’École Practique des Hautes Études de Paris and the “Senior managers in Government” program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was an associate lecturer on Employment and Social Security Law at the University of Alcalá de Henares .

Almunia was chief economist of the UGT, a Spanish trade union, from 1976 to 1979. He was economist at the Council Bureau of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce in Brussels from 1972 to 1975.

Almunia was a socialist Member of the Spanish Parliament from 1979 to 2004. He was Minister of Employment and Social Security from 1982 to 1986 and Minister of Public Administration from 1986 to 1991. He was Party Spokesperson from 1994 to 1997 and Party Leader from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, he was the socialist candidate for Prime Minister.

Almunia was director of the research program on “Equality and redistribution of income” at the Fundación Argentaria from 1991 to 1994. In 2002, he founded and was director of the progressive think tank “Laboratorio de Alternativas ”.