| Honorific-Prefix: | The Most Excellent |
| The Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo | |
| Order: | Prime Minister of Spain |
| Deputy: | Rodolfo Martín Villa Juan Antonio García Díez |
| Term Start: | 26 February 1981 |
| Term End: | 2 December 1982 |
| Predecessor: | Adolfo Suárez |
| Successor: | Felipe González |
| Signature: | Firma_de_Leopoldo_Calvo-Sotelo.svg |
| Office2: | Second Deputy Prime Minister of Spain |
| Term Start2: | 9 September 1980 |
| Term End2: | 25 February 1981 |
| Primeminister2: | Adolfo Suárez |
| Predecessor2: | Fernando Abril Martorell |
| Successor2: | Juan Antonio García Díez |
| Office3: | Minister of Economy |
| Term Start3: | 9 September 1980 |
| Term End3: | 25 February 1981 |
| Primeminister3: | Adolfo Suárez |
| Predecessor3: | Fernando Abril Martorell |
| Successor3: | José Luis Leal Maldonado |
| Office4: | Minister for Relations with the European Communities |
| Term Start4: | 25 February 1978 |
| Term End4: | 9 September 1980 |
| Primeminister4: | Adolfo Suárez |
| Predecessor4: | Office created |
| Successor4: | Eduard Punset |
| Office5: | Minister of Public Works |
| Term Start5: | 4 July 1976 |
| Term End5: | April 1977 |
| Primeminister5: | Adolfo Suárez |
| Predecessor5: | Antonio Valdés |
| Successor5: | Luis Ortiz González |
| Office6: | Minister of Trade |
| Term Start6: | 13 December 1975 |
| Term End6: | 6 July 1976 |
| Primeminister6: | Carlos Arias Navarro |
| Predecessor6: | José Luis Cerón Ayuso |
| Successor6: | José Lladó |
| Office7: | Member of the Congress of Deputies |
| Term Start7: | 22 July 1977 |
| Term End7: | 31 August 1982 |
| Constituency7: | Madrid |
| Term Start8: | 28 July 1983 |
| Term End8: | 23 April 1986 |
| Constituency8: | Madrid |
| Birth Name: | Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo |
| Birth Date: | 14 April 1926 |
| Birth Place: | Madrid, Spain |
| Death Place: | Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain |
| Resting Place: | Ribadeo Cemetery, Galicia, Spain |
| Spouse: | María del Pilar Ibáñez-Martín Mellado |
| Children: | 8 |
| Party: | Union of the Democratic Centre (1977–1983) |
Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo (pronounced as /es/; 14 April 1926 – 3 May 2008), usually known as Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, was Prime Minister of Spain between 1981 and 1982.
Calvo-Sotelo was born into a prominent political family in Madrid on 14 April 1926 with his father, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo,[1] and his mother, Mercedes Bustelo Márquez.[2] The assassination of his uncle, José Calvo Sotelo, who had been finance minister under Miguel Primo de Rivera, was a key event leading up to the Spanish Civil War.[2] Calvo-Sotelo graduated as a civil engineer from the School of Civil Engineers of Madrid now part of the Technical University of Madrid, working in the area of applications of chemistry to the industry.[2]
He was the president of Renfe (the Spanish national railroad network) between 1967 and 1968. Calvo-Sotelo was elected solicitor (Deputy) of Franco's Cortes, representing industrialists in the Union of Chemical Industries, in 1971.[2] A monarchist, Sotelo was one of the founders of an association of politicians, mostly of Rightists and Center Rightists, which disguised as the Fedisa publishing firm helped Spain's peaceful transition into democracy.[2]
Calvo-Sotelo was designated Minister of Commerce by Carlos Arias Navarro to be in the first government of the Monarchy (December 1975 – July 1976).[2] He advocated a true transition to democracy instead of mere superficial changes that politicians like Navarro planned.[2] Calvo-Sotelo was kept in the cabinet of Adolfo Suárez upon his succession to premiership in 1976 and directed several centre-right and centre-left political associations into one party, the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD).[2] Calvo-Sotelo was part of the Tacito group in the cabinet along with Eduardo Carriles, Andrés Reguera, Landelino Lavilla, Enrique de la Mata, Marcelino Oreja and Alfonso Osorio.[3] The UCD won in both the June 1977 and the March 1979 elections[2] and Calvo-Sotelo was elected MP for Madrid.
Suárez decided to keep him in the Cabinet, first from 1978 to 1980 as Minister for Relations of the European Economic Community, then as Second Vicepresident in charge of economic affairs.[2] After the resignation of Suárez on 29 January 1981, he was supposed to be appointed Prime Minister (Spanish; Castilian: Presidente del Gobierno) on 23 February, and advocated Spain's proposed entry into NATO as soon as possible.[2] However, on that date a session of the Congress of Deputies was interrupted by the attempted coup of 23-F.[2] After the failed coup, his appointment as Prime Minister was confirmed on 25 February by the vote of all the UCD members of the congress and 21 others as well, giving him a majority of 186 to 158.[2] Splits in the UCD group led to the formation of three rival parties, the Democratic Action Party (Partido de Acción Democrática/PAD), which soon merged with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) and Democratic Popular Party (PDP), resulting in the UCD being unable to count on sufficient support in the legislature. Fresh elections were called, resulting in a heavy defeat for the UCD, which won only 12 seats at the 1982 election compared to 168 in 1979. He served as Prime Minister until 1 December 1982 and was succeeded by the socialist Felipe González.[2]
In 2002, Calvo-Sotelo was raised into the Spanish nobility by King Juan Carlos of Spain and given the hereditary title of Marqués de la Ría de Ribadeo (Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo), together with the dignity Grande de España (English: Grandee of Spain), this in honour for his service.[4] [5]
Calvo-Sotelo was also a member of the Club of Madrid[6] and of the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering.
He wrote several political autobiographical books: Memoria viva de la transición (Living memory of the Spanish transition), Papeles de un cesante (Papers from an unemployed person), and Pláticas de familia (1878–2003) (Family talks (1878-2003)).[7]
He died of natural causes at his home in Pozuelo de Alarcón, on 3 May 2008 aged 82.[8]
He was married to María del Pilar Ibáñez-Martín y Mellado and had eight children: