Among the main actions taken by the Zapatero administration were the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the Iraq war, the increase of Spanish troops in Afghanistan; the idea of an Alliance of Civilizations; the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Spain; reform of abortion law; a peace negotiation attempt with ETA; the end of ETA terrorism; increase of tobacco restrictions; and the reform of various autonomous statutes, particularly the Statute of Catalonia.

The will comprised six parts, the first three bestowing his possessions on his heirs; the fourth, in which he asked for a civil burial and, the fifth, in which he requested his family to forgive those who had tried and executed him and proclaiming his belief in the Supreme Being.

In the sixth, Zapatero's grandfather asked his family to clear his name in the future as his creed consisted only in his "love for peace, for good and for improving the living conditions of the lower classes".

It was subsequently found that he had been appointed by his department without the usual selection process involving interviews and competitive examinations, which if true, constitutes a case of political favouritism.

[citation needed] But, after the famous political rally in Gijón, they, and especially Zapatero, started to believe that the Socialist Party was the most probable future for the Spanish left.

In July 1982, he met Felipe González at the summer school "Jaime Vera" and suggested that he make a "left turn" in the PSOE political program for the General Election of October 1982.

[27] The Association of Parliamentary Journalists awarded to Zapatero the "Diputado Revelación" prize (something like Most promising MP of the year) in December 1999 for his activities as a member of the Congress of Deputies.

From 1996 until 2000, his most conspicuous contributions as an MP were his vigorous opposition to the electrical protocol proposed by the government (initially negative for the important coal sector of León), being the PSOE spokesman in the Commission of Public Administration[28] and probably his most important success as an MP: the passing of an amendment to the national budget of 2000 in November 1999 that increased the pensions of the non-professional soldiers who fought for the Republic during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939.

Because of this supposed tactic, Zapatero received nicknames like Bambi or Sosoman (where Soso, meaning "dull, insipid, bore", replaces Super in Superman), especially in the first months after being appointed General Secretary.

[38] During Zapatero's years as an opposition leader (and later as prime minister), the tension between left-wing and right-wing supporters increased and, according to some opinions, a real radicalization of the society took (and is taking) place [citation needed].

[39] As a result, a new term has become popular: guerracivilismo[40] (made up of a combination of the Spanish for Civil War and the -ismo suffix, equivalent to the English "-ism"), which would refer to the growing enmity of right and left-wing factions.

Zapatero was the main proponent of the "Pacto de las Libertades contra el Terrorismo" ("Anti Terrorist Freedom pact) which was signed on 8 December 2000.

In 2002, the People's Party Government decided to reform the system of unemployment benefits, as it thought that there were too many workers who being able to find a job preferred to continue receiving public money.

That promise would have been made some months before the crisis in exchange of support for one of his more immediate collaborators (Trinidad Jiménez), who wanted to become the Socialist candidate for mayor of Madrid (the Spanish capital).

[58] That alliance resulted in another setback for the Socialist Party when the Spanish newspaper ABC published an article stating that Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira, leader of Republican Left of Catalonia, had met some ETA members secretly in January 2004.

[59] Ten days later, on 18 January 2004, Zapatero announced that he would only become prime minister if the Spanish Socialist Workers Party received a plurality, renouncing possible parliamentary alliances in advance if that situation did not happen after the election.

It seems likely that the election result was influenced to a greater or lesser extent by the Spanish public's response to the attacks[68] and the informative coverage by the different media and political parties.

[75] The most recent social issue tackled has been the Dependency Law,[76] a plan to regulate help and resources for people in dire need of them, and who cannot provide for themselves and must rely on others on a daily basis.

In October 2004, Zapatero's government undertook the task of morally and legally rehabilitating those who were suppressed during and after the Spanish Civil War, by instituting a Memorial Commission chaired by Vice-Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega.

[86] The measures taken have been criticized as an over-correction by the opposition arguing that the Historical Memory Law of 2007 reopens old wounds and has been taken advantage of by certain groups to present a unilateral version of the war which focuses solely on the crimes of one side whilst widely ignoring those of the other.

[92] A massive rally in Madrid followed on 25 February 2007 promoted by the Victims of Terrorism Association (AVT in Spanish acronym), rejecting what are perceived to be concessions from the government to the separatists.

[94] This demonstration was organized by the opposition party PP and backed by the AVT and several other associations of victims, to not allow Iñaki de Juana Chaos out of prison and accusing Zapatero's government of surrendering to terrorism.

[95] During the meeting of the European Union Justice and Home Affairs Ministers held in Tampere on 22 September 2006, some of the European ministers reprimanded the Spanish authorities for the aforementioned massive regularisation of undocumented immigrants which was regarded as too loose and opposed to the policies of other State members (on 2 September and 3 alone, during the height of the last illegal immigration wave, 2,283 people arrived illegally in the Canary Islands having shipped from Senegal aboard 27 pirogues).

During the electoral campaign Zapatero promised to withdraw the troops if control in Iraq was not passed to the United Nations after 30 June (the ending date of the initial Spanish military agreement with the multinational coalition that had overthrown Saddam Hussein).

Zapatero declared that he did not intend to withdraw the Spanish troops before that date after being questioned about the issue by the People's Party's leader Mariano Rajoy in his inauguration parliamentary debate as prime minister.

[98] The decision aroused international support worldwide, though the Bush administration claimed that terrorists could perceive it as "a victory obtained due to the 2004 Madrid train bombings".

Requests Member States and international and regional organizations to contribute assistance to the multinational force, including military forces, as agreed with the Government of Iraq, to help meet the needs of the Iraqi people for security and stability, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, and to support the efforts of UNAMI […][99]An important change in Spanish foreign policy was Zapatero's decision to approach left-wing leaders such as Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez.

Within days, Spain's website for its presidency was defaced by a picture of the main character of a popular television show, Mr. Bean, the supposed lookalike of Zapatero[107] although the XSS attack lasted only several hours.

However, the document (tentatively trying to set a roadmap for legislative elections, respect for the rule of law, a plan to improve the economic situation and a reparatory truth commission) was accepted by the Venezuelan government but rejected by the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).

[124] Branded domestically as socialismo cívico, his initial vision was underpinned by the extension of minority rights, the strengthening of the welfare state, a contrast between "constitutional patriotism" and "nationalism", the widening of spaces for deliberation and the defence of international organizations and multilateralism.