Inés Arrimadas García (; born 3 July 1981) is a Spanish lawyer and former politician who served as

Member of the Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has 350 members elected from fifty-two constituencie ...

and

Spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

Citizens Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality; ...

party in the Congress. She was previously the leader of the regional branch of the party in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. In March 2020, she was voted party leader. Arrimadas was born and raised in

Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Sp ...

. Before entering in politics she worked as a consultant. She became a member of the party in 2011 and she first started being the

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of the youth section. She became an MP of the

Catalan parliament The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as deputies (//), who are elected for four-year terms or after extraordinary ...

after the 2012 election. She was the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

in the Catalan Parliament from 2015 to 2019.

Early life and career

Arrimadas is the youngest of five children born to Rufino Arrimadas García and Inés García López, both of whom came from Salmoral in the

Province of Salamanca Salamanca () is a province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León (Castilla y León). It is bordered by the provinces of Ávila, Cáceres, Valladolid, and Zamora, and on the west by Portugal. It ...

. She moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in 2008. Arrimadas studied at the Catholic school Nuestra Señora del Pilar in

. She became interested in

as a result of being a fan of

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

which led her to take Catalan lessons from a Catalan classmate while she was in 7th and 8th grade, during which she learnt the club anthem. When she moved to Barcelona, the company she worked for, Daleph, paid her formal Catalan language classes to obtain the C1 level. Arrimadas is fluent in Spanish, Catalan, English, and French. At age 18, Arrimadas began studying

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at Pablo de Olavide University. She also undertook postgraduate studies in international business at IPAG Business School in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionErasmus programme. At 24, Arrimadas worked for a year and a half in the petrochemical industry. For six years, she worked as a consultant at D'Aleph in

, having moved to the city in 2008.

Politics

Parliament of Catalonia

In 2010, Arrimadas' coworker invited her to a

public event at Romea theatre, and she accepted the invitation. Afterwards, she started to attend meetings of the political party. In one of those meetings,

Albert Rivera Alberto Carlos Rivera Díaz (born 15 November 1979), known as Albert Rivera, is a Spanish former politician who was the leader of Citizens from its founding in 2006 until 2019. He was a member of the Parliament of Catalonia (2006–2015) and the ...

went to teach oratory lessons and thought that she had potential. In 2011, Rivera asked her to go to the Youth Commission of the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...

. Rivera also offered her to enter in the party's executive office. Arrimadas was elected as a member of the Parliament of Catalonia in the

2012 Catalan regional election The 2012 Catalan regional election was held on Sunday, 25 November 2012, to elect the 10th Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. It was a snap election, announced on 25 Septembe ...

. She became the spokeswoman of

in Catalonia in 2015, substituting

Jordi Cañas Jordi Cañas Pérez (Barcelona, born 12 December 1969) is a Spanish politicians, Spanish politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2024. He previously was member of the Parliament of Catalonia between 2010 and 2014 ...

, who resigned due to being indicted for alleged tax fraud. That same year, she was selected leader of the party for the Catalan elections which were held on 27 September. Citizens in Catalonia gained 17.9% of the votes, increasing their representation from 9 to 25 seats, obtaining the greatest anti-independence single party representation and became the party Leader of the Opposition of the Catalan parliament. In September 2017, Arrimadas reported to police a Catalan female who threatened her with

gang rape In scholarly literature and criminology, gang rape, also called serial gang rape, party rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrato ...

for opposing independence; the woman received a four-month suspended jail sentence. The party under Arrimadas secured the most seats in the 2017 election under a single party, but the pro-independence parties retained a narrow majority of seats in the

. During the campaign for the elections of Catalonia in 2017, a

hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

was popularized alleging Arrimadas' father was a

Francoist Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

secret agent. The cousin of his father was the one in a relevant position as a Francoist

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. In 2018, she denied that the Catalonia president

Lluís Companys Lluís Companys i Jover (; 21 June 1882 – 15 October 1940) was a Catalan politician who served as president of Catalonia, Spain from 1934 and during the Spanish Civil War. Companys was a lawyer close to the labour movement and one of the mo ...

was executed by the Spanish state, stating that Companys was executed by a Francoist, fascist regime, not by the Spanish state.

Congress of Deputies

In 2019, Prime Minister

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has served as Prime Minister of Spain since 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since July 2017, having p ...

dissolved the

Cortes Generales The (; ) are the Bicameralism, bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate of Spain, Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, ...

in response to a budget defeat. In response to the snap election, Arrimadas announced she would run for a seat in the Cortes Generales with senator Lorena Roldán as party spokesperson in the Catalan Parliament and Carlos Carrizosa as leader. In the April 2019 election, Citizens list obtained 12.0% of the vote and 4 seats out of 32, one of which went to Arrimadas. In the November 2019 election, the party's vote share fell to 6.0% and 2 seats, but Arrimadas nevertheless managed to retain hers and remained a member of the Chamber of Deputies. On 8 March 2020, Arrimadas was voted leader of Citizens, obtaining 76.9% of the vote in a three-way race.

Personal life

On 30 July 2016, Arrimadas married Xavier Cima, a former Catalan MP and municipal councillor in

Ripoll Ripoll () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Ripollès, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on confluence of the Ter river and its tributary Freser, next to the Pyrenees near the border of France. The population was 11 ...

for the pro-independence

Democratic Convergence of Catalonia The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (; , CDC), frequently shortened as Convergence (; ) was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain), currently still existing without any political activity. The party was originall ...

, at an estate in

. Cima then left politics to work for Kreab in Madrid. Their son Álex was born in May 2020. In a September 2021 post on Instagram, Arrimadas announced that she was pregnant with her second child. Their second son Marc was born in March 2022. Arrimadas divorced Cima in 2023, and is currently in a relationship with Guillermo Díaz Gómez, a former Citizens deputy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arrimadas, Ines 1981 births Citizens (Spanish political party) politicians Living people Members of the 10th Parliament of Catalonia Members of the 11th Parliament of Catalonia 21st-century Spanish women politicians Members of the 12th Parliament of Catalonia Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) People from Jerez de la Frontera Women members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Women members of the Parliament of Catalonia Women opposition leaders