Carme María Chacón Piqueras (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈkarmə tʃəˈkom piˈkeɾəs]; March 13, 1971 – April 9, 2017) was a Spanish politician who was Minister of Defence from 2008 to 2011 in the cabinet led by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Biography

Chacón was born in Esplugues de Llobregat in Catalonia, in the region of Baix Llobregat. She held a bachelor's degree in Law from the University of Barcelona, and she conducted her postgraduate study at Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto), the University of Kingston and Laval University in Quebec City. She worked as a lecturer of Constitutional Law at the University of Girona. From 2007 to 2016, she was married to Miguel Barroso, with whom she had a son.

Chacón died on April 9, 2017. She suffered from dextrocardia and a third-degree atrioventricular block.

Political career

Chacón was a member of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. She has been a PSOE member of parliament for Barcelona since the 2000 election, the vice-president of the Spanish Congress of Deputies (Lower House) in José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's legislature and she was later named minister of Housing after María Antonia Trujillo before becoming Minister of Defence in April 2008.

Chacón was the first female Minister of Defence in Spain, which, together with the fact that she was seven months pregnant at the time, was considered a significant development by the press. Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba temporarily took over the defense portfolio when Chacón gave birth. Shortly after she chose to live in the ministry, which has its own kindergarten, so as not to waste time travelling between her home and her workplace.

In 2010, Chacón chaired the meetings of the EU defence ministers while Spain held the European Union's six-month rotating presidency. During this time, she led the negotiations with EADS about €3.5 billion ($4.7 billion) extra funding for the Airbus A400M Atlas military transport.

After José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced he was not going to run in the 2012 elections, she was widely assumed to run for her party primaries to happen during autumn 2011. However, after the failure of the PSOE in 2011 local elections, she announced that she withdraw from the race.

With the landslide defeat of the PSOE Zapatero Government in the November 2011 snap elections, Chacón ceded the Defence Minister's post to Pedro Morenés in December 2011.

She filed to be PSOE's General Secretary. On February 4, 2012, she lost to Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba 487 to 465 votes in the 38th congress of the party. When Rubalcaba announced his resignation after his party’s dismal showing in the 2014 European elections, Chacón was widely seen as one of the frontrunners for his replacement.

In Catalan politics, Chacón was actively opposed to the independence of the region.