Eneko Goia Laso (born 30 October 1971) is a Spanish politician of the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party (, EAJ ; es, Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV; french: Parti Nationaliste Basque, PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially Basque National Party in English,) was rejected by party members in November 2011. Nonetheless, the party did ...

(EAJ-PNV). He was elected to the City Council of

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

in 2011 as the party's leader, and was elected mayor in 2015. He previously served in the Basque Parliament from 2005 to 2007, and the Deputation of Gipuzkoa from 2007 to 2011.

Biography

Goia was born and raised in the Amara neighbourhood of

in the

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

; as of 2015 he is married and has two sons and a daughter. He is a member and shareholder in San Sebastián football club

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

. Goia graduated in Law from the University of the Basque Country and in Community Law from the University of Deusto. In 1996, he began teaching at the Higher Institute of Marketing of the Basque Country. He became a member of the

(EAJ-PNV), first in its youth wing, Euzko Gaztedi. He was elected to the Basque Parliament in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, and left two years later when he was named in

Markel Olano Markel Olano Arrese (Beasain, June 2, 1965) is a Spanish politician, member of the Basque Nationalist Party and President of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa since June 6, 2007. Beginnings in politics Olano began in politics at the age of f ...

's government in the Deputation of Gipuzkoa, as Minister for Highway Infrastructure. In May 2010, Goia was chosen as the EAJ-PNV candidate for mayor of

in the 2011 election. His party came fourth with six out of 27 seats, and refused to form a broad front with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and People's Party (PP) in order to prevent Juan Carlos Izagirre of the left-wing

Basque nationalist Basque nationalism ( eu, eusko abertzaletasuna ; es, nacionalismo vasco; french: nationalisme basque) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the polit ...

coalition

Bildu EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu ( en, link=yes, Basque Country Gather or Basque Country Unite) is a left-wing, Basque nationalist, pro-independence political coalition active in the Spanish autonomous communities of Basque Country, Navar ...

from becoming mayor as leader of the largest party. Goia was the only other candidate to congratulate Izagirre on becoming the new mayor. Goia was again the EAJ-PNV candidate in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, coming first with nine seats and being invested mayor due to a mutual agreement with the PSOE to abstain on the vote to invest the other's candidate. He became his party's first mayor in the city since Ramón Labayen was defeated in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. The party's seats rose to 10 in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, and he was invested for another term in coalition with the PSOE; the balance between the parties had shifted from 9–7 to 10–5.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goia, Eneko 1971 births Living people People from San Sebastián University of the Basque Country alumni University of Deusto alumni Basque Nationalist Party politicians Members of the 8th Basque Parliament Municipal councillors in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Mayors of places in the Basque Country