Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo: An engineer, businessman and politician on the European integration

Abstract

Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo has been the last of the engineers who became president of the Spanish Government. He is, to a great extent, an example of the persons who played an important role in the period of transition to democracy. A civil engineer, a prestigious professional, an entrepreneur, who held important posts in the private sector and who played a key role in the social and political life of the country. His singular trajectory exemplifies a new aspect of the social role of engineers, which has been studied for other countries and that may also be identified in Spain: engineers who do not make a career in engineering, but in management positions in private companies that demand them for the social prestige granted by engineering education. Thus, we analyse the trajectory of a civil engineer who developed all his professional career in the private sector —in companies linked to the Urquijo Bank— and who entered public life in moments of uncertainty in Spanish politics. The study of his political career focuses on a key moment: his role as the first Spanish negotiator for accession to the EEC. In this role, he could show some of his knowledge and engineering know-how and since this position he would become, shortly thereafter, the president of the Government.