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(for the Catholic politician in the Spanish Civil War, see José María Gil Robles y Quinoñes)
José Maria Gil-Robles is a Spanish politician. He was formerly a Member of the European Parliament in the European Peoples Party group, and was President of the European Parliament 1997-1999.
| Preceded by: Klaus Hänsch | President of the European Parliament 1997-1999 | Followed by: Nicole Fontaine |
José María Gil-Robles Quiñones (Salamanca, 1898-Madrid, 1980) was a prominent Spanish politician in the period leading up to the Spanish Civil War.
He received his masters degree in 1919 and in 1922 he gained by opposition the chair of political right in the University of La Laguna (Tenerife). During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera he was secretary of the Catholic-agrarian national Confederation and member of the Writing Council of El Debate. When the II Republic was declared he participated in and led Acción Nacional that soon became Public interest action. In the elections of 1931 he was chosen as a deputy in the Cortes for Salamanca. He was stopped by order of the governor of Orense with the excuse to protect to him from aggressions of militants of leftist parties. He formed the rightist coalition CEDA (Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas) which won the elections of November 1933. In order to avoid conflicts with the leftist parties, Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, instead of requesting Gil Robles to form a government (CEDA being the majority party), he gave the request to Alejandro Lerroux. The appointment of three ministers of CEDA to the cabinet in 1934 (since CEDA held an absolute majority) triggered the leftist Revolution of October 1934 that rose against the government of the Republic. He was Minister of War with Lerroux from May 1935. In the elections of February 1936 he was chosen as a deputy under the slogan Todo el poder para el Jefe ("All the power to the Chief [i.e., Gil Robles]").
With the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, Gil Robles was unwilling to struggle with Franco for power and in April 1937 announced the dissolution of CEDA. After the Civil War he went into exile. Abroad he made negotiations with monarchists to try to arrive at a common strategy of taking of the Spanish power. In 1968 he was named university professor of the University of Oviedo and published his book No fue posible la paz. He was a member of the International Tribunal at the Hague. At the end of the Franco regime and after his death Gil Robles became one of the leaders of Spanish Christian Democracy, a party with which failed clearly in the elections of June 15, 1977.