Jose Maria Aznar was a Prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. Aznar's fiscal conservatism allowed Spain to qualify for the single currency of the European Union (EU), the euro. He was also staunchly pro-American and supported the United States in the 2003 Iraq War.

Aznar was born in Madrid. He earned a law degree from Complutense University in 1975. After graduation, he worked as a tax inspector. Aznar became the local head of the conservative People's Alliance (Alianza Popular, AP) in 1979 and was then appointed to the party's national board. In 1982, he was elected to the Spanish parliament. Three years later, he was chosen as assistant secretary-general of the AP. In 1989, he led the party in its transformation to the People's Party (Partido Popular, PP) and became the first national leader of the new grouping. In 1995, he survived an assassination attempt by Basque separatists. The PP won the largest percentage of votes in the 1996 elections, but not an absolute majority. Aznar formed a coalition government with two conservative parties and became prime minister.

Aznar implemented a range of fiscal reforms to ensure that Spain remained on track to join the EU's single currency. The 1997 austerity budget lowered Spain's deficit to less than 3 percent of gross domestic product for the first time in the 1990s. He also launched a series of privatizations, reversing the nationalization campaign of the former socialist government. In 1999, Spain joined other members of the EU in adopting the euro. His economic reforms lowered unemployment, from 18 percent to 10 percent by 2003, but Spain continued to have one of the highest jobless rates in the EU. Nonetheless, Spain had one of the fastest-growing economies in the EU. The reforms also resulted in the first budget surplus in Spain in more than a decade.

In the late 1990s, Aznar proposed an expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to include countries outside of Europe, including Japan and Israel. In 2000, Aznar and the PP secured an outright majority in the parliament in national elections. He continued his reform platform, including a controversial plan for changes to the nation's university system and a failed effort to revise the nation's unemployment policies.

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Aznar emerged as a supporter of the U.S.-led global war on terror. He offered assistance to the United States in the Afghanistan intervention and endorsed increased intelligence and law enforcement cooperation against terrorism. The prime minister sought new global emphasis on the counterterrorism against Basque terrorist groups in Spain. In 2003, Aznar backed the Iraq War, even though it was domestically unpopular. After the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein, Aznar dispatched Spanish troops to support the American-led coalition.

Ahead of elections in 2004, Aznar announced he would adhere to a campaign pledge and not seek a third term. He handpicked his successor, and the PP seemed to enjoy a comfortable lead in pre-election polls. However, on 11 March 2004, an Al Qaeda–linked terrorist group carried out a series of strikes on the Madrid train system. The attacks took place three days before the national elections and killed 191. Aznar's government initially blamed Basque terrorists. The attacks swung public opinion against the PP, and the socialists won the polling with 43.3 percent to the PP's 38.3 percent. Aznar's successor, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of the Socialist Party, then withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq. After leaving office, Aznar accepted a teaching position at Georgetown University in the United States.

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