Arantza Quiroga Cía (

Irún Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman-Vasconic town. During the Span ...

, 26 July 1973) is a Spanish politician. She was

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Basque Parliament The Basque Parliament (Basque: ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', Spanish: ''Parlamento Vasco'') is the legislative body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain and the elected assembly to which the Basque Government is responsible. The Parliament mee ...

between 2009 and 2012, an office commonly known in the Anglophone world by the name of "Speaker of the Parliament". Mrs. Quiroga, who has a degree in Law, is a member of the conservative People's Party (PP) and was the leader of the Basque branch of the party until she resigned in 2015. Born to a father from

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

and a Basque mother, she grew up in

. She became a member of the Spain-wide People's Party youth movement

Nuevas Generaciones New Generations of the People's Party ( es, link=no, Nuevas Generaciones, NNGG) is the youth wing of the People's Party. It operates in all Spain and also has structures in other countries. They share the same ideological platform of the PP: a ce ...

at 21 and was elected a local councillor for

on the party list. Her political career began to take off three years later, when she gave a speech at a party meeting in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

regarding the 20th anniversary of the first democratic elections. Quiroga was first elected to the

in the 1998 election for the constituency of

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

, and has since had a continuous presence in the chamber (she lost her seat in the 2001 election, but entered parliament because fellow PP MP María San Gil resigned her Gipuzkoa seat shortly after the election). On virtue of a deal between her party and the PSE-EE after the 2009 election, the conservatives announced that she would be their candidate for President of the Basque Parliament. She was elected as Speaker on 3 April 2009, and formally opened the new Parliament with a speech mixing

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

and Spanish.

References

External links

# Basque Parliament
Arantza Quiroga - Bio
1973 births 20th-century Spanish politicians 20th-century Spanish women politicians 21st-century Spanish politicians 21st-century Spanish women politicians Living people Members of the 6th Basque Parliament Members of the 7th Basque Parliament Members of the 8th Basque Parliament Members of the 9th Basque Parliament Members of the 10th Basque Parliament People's Party (Spain) politicians Presidents of the Basque Parliament Women legislative speakers People from Irun Basque women in politics Municipal councillors in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Women members of the Basque Parliament {{BasqueCountry-politician-stub