However, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) denies these claims and reminds the opposition of its attitude during a previous ETA truce in 1998, where peace talks were established between the then-in-power party, the PP (led by José María Aznar), and Basque terrorists.
The centre-right government of former prime minister José María Aznar had worked successfully to gain admission to the group of countries launching the euro in 1999.
He was firstly critical of the last Felipe Gonzalez's socialist government and later against the conservative government of José María Aznar (PP).
Incumbent Prime Minister Felipe González of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party lost the elections to the People's Party and their leader José María Aznar, thus ending almost 13 and a half years of Socialist rule: to date, the largest period of time a Spanish party has been in power.
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They have also played a role in advising foreign governments on their Cuba policy and have met with numerous world leaders, including: Václav Havel, Lech Wałęsa, Ronald Reagan, Boris Yeltsin, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, José María Aznar, Ernesto Zedillo and Felipe González.
During the 1990s, the absence of absolute majorities in the Spanish parliament made governments reliant on support from the various nationalist parties (Catalan, Basque, Canary Islands, etc.) which was leveraged by CiU, to gain broaden the scope of Catalan autonomy during the last government of Felipe González (1993–1996) and the first of José María Aznar (1996–2000).
On May 31, 1993 moderated the second televised debate between Felipe González and José María Aznar for the general elections to be held six days later.
This sometimes causes confusion since it is the usual term for the head of state in a republic; former governor of Florida Jeb Bush once mistakenly referred to incumbent José María Aznar as the "President of the Republic of Spain".