Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (born 27 March 1961 in

Bermeo Bermeo is a town and municipality in the ''comarca'' of Busturialdea. It is in the province of Biscay, which is part of the autonomous region of the Basque Country in northern Spain. With a population of 16,765, it is the most important fishing ...

) is a politician from the Basque Country, a region in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. She was the President of the Basque Parliament from 2005 to 2009, being the first woman to hold the position. She has been a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

since 2009. She is affiliated with the

Basque National 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 ...

, which belongs to the

European Democratic Party The European Democratic Party (EDP) ( French: Parti Démocrate Européen; PDE) also known as the European Democrats, is a centrist European political party in favour of European integration. François Bayrou is the President of the party. All ...

, and sits in the

Renew Europe Renew Europe (Renew) is a liberal, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group which exist ...

group in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

Life and career

Izaskun Bilbao was born in the coastal town of Bermeo in the Basque region of north west Spain. She is a member 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 ...

President of the Basque Parliament, 2005–2009

Izaskun Bilbao was the

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 ...

in the 2005–2009 term, being elected to the office as a "consensus candidate" among the nationalist majority in the legislature when the incumbent president and initial candidate of her party, Juan María Atutxa, failed to obtain the majority and the election deadlocked. She has a degree in law. Izaskun-Bilbao-Barandika

In 2008, she was in the center of a controversy regarding the placement of the

Spanish flag The national flag of Spain ( es, Bandera de España), as it is defined in the Constitution of 1978, consists of three horizontal stripes: red, yellow and red, the yellow stripe being twice the size of each red stripe. Traditionally, the middle ...

in the seat of the Basque Parliament: the Spanish Law on Flags requires that all public institutions place the Spanish flag on a prominent place wherever the regional or local flags fly. After years of not submitting to such law and flying only the

Ikurriña The ikurrina flag (in Basque)EuskaltzaindiaDictionary of the Standard Basque retrieved 2010-10-04. or ikurriña (Spanish spelling of the Basque term) is a Basque symbol and the official flag of the Basque Country Autonomous Community of Spain ...

(Basque flag), the

Spanish Supreme Court The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regulat ...

ruled that the Basque Parliament would have to fly the Spanish flag too. In the Bureau meeting that studied the ruling, Izaskun Bilbao sided with the non-nationalist minority in the Parliament ruling body to actually place the flag against the official policy of her party. She defended this decision as simply obeying the final ruling of the Supreme Court, and thus having nothing to do with politics. Bilbao contested the 2009 election as the leading candidate for

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

in the Basque National Party's ticket, and was subsequently re-elected to parliament. She also sought re-election as speaker, but the election results allowed

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and PP to form a majority, and Arantza Quiroga (PP) succeeded her in the post. Bilbao resigned as member of parliament during the summer of 2009, upon being elected by her party to contest the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–present

Izaskun Bilbao has been a

since the 2009 European elections. She served as vice-chairwoman of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group under the leadership of chairman

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who was the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, and has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium ...

until 2019, when

Luis Garicano Luis Garicano Gabilondo (born 1967 in Valladolid) is a Spanish economist and politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Spain since 2019. He was also vice president of Renew Europe and vice president of the European politi ...

was elected as vice-chairman. She is also a member of the

Committee on Transport and Tourism The Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair is the French MEP Karima Delli of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance. Research service The Committee is directly supported by ...

. In this capacity, she has been the parliament's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

on the interoperability of the rail system within the EU. She is also a member of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), which oversees the Parliament's election observation missions. In addition to her committee assignments, Izaskun Bilbao is a member of the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup Intergroups are formed of Members of the European Parliament from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects ...

and the

MEPs Against Cancer MEPs Against Cancer is a group of 130 Members of the European Parliament who aim to "promote action on cancer as an EU priority and harness European health policy to that end" and to encourage every country to develop a national plan for combati ...

group.MAC MEPs in the 2019-24 legislature

. Izaskun Bilbao has given speeches in the European Parliament in support of freedom of expression in Vietnam and for female entrepreneurship.Izaskun Bilbao Barandica plenary speech on European female entrepreneurship
18 January 2016, ALDEGroup, Retrieved 27 March 2016

References

External links

*Basque Parliament

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barandica, Izaskun Bilbao 1961 births Basque Nationalist Party MEPs Basque Nationalist Party 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 MEPs for Spain 2014–2019 MEPs for Spain 2019–2024 People from Bermeo Presidents of the Basque Parliament Women members of the Basque Parliament Municipal councillors in the Basque Country (autonomous community) University of the Basque Country alumni University of Deusto alumni 20th-century Spanish women