Jordi Sebastià i Talavera (born 1966) is a Spanish professor and politician. He was the mayor of

Burjassot Burjassot ( es, Burjasot) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Nord in the Valencian Community, Spain. Museums The Museum of Geology at the University of Valencia is located on calle Doctor Moliner. It has several collections of geolog ...

(2011–2014) and 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 ...

(2014–2016).

Biography

Sebastià became a professor of journalism at the

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ca-valencia, Universitat de València ; also known as UV) is a public research university located in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest surviving universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Vale ...

in 2004, and has written for ''

El Temps ''El Temps'' (; 'The Times') is a weekly newsmagazine, published in Valencia by ''Edicions del País Valencià'' since 1984. It is distributed throughout the whole Països Catalans. It is edited by Eliseu Climent. The publication has offices in ...

''. He has also written independent journalism and is the author of several books. Representing the

Valencian Nationalist Bloc The Valencian Nationalist Bloc ( ca-valencia, Bloc Nacionalista Valencià, Bloc or ''BNV''; ) was a Valencian nationalist party in the Valencian Country, Spain. It was the largest party in the Coalició Compromís until 2021, when it was replaced ...

(BNV) within the

Coalició Compromís Coalició Compromís (; en, Commitment Coalition or Compromise Coalition), also known as Compromís,Ávila López, E. (2016) ''Modern Spain'', p. 85 is a Valencianist electoral coalition in the Valencian Community, Spain. The parties involved i ...

, Sebastià was elected to the town hall of his hometown of

near

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

in 1999. From 2003, he was his party's spokesman in the town hall. In 2011, he was elected mayor as fellow left-wing parties

Socialist Party of the Valencian Country The Socialist Party of the Valencian Country ( ca-valencia, Partit Socialista del País Valencià; es, Partido Socialista del País Valenciano, PSPV–PSOE) is a social-democratic political party in the Valencian Community, and is a regional branc ...

(PSPV) and

United Left of the Valencian Country United Left of the Valencian Country () is the Valencian federation of the Spanish left wing political and social movement United Left. Marga Sanz is the current General Coordinator and Ignacio Blanco Giner its spokesperson. The Communist Party o ...

(EUPV) voted to invest him and impede the People's Party (PP) candidate Cristina Subielda. The agreement maintained that the PSPV would govern in the last year of the mandate. Sebastià was indicted in court for a December 2012 incident in which he ordered the dismantling of a stall that the far-right party

España 2000 España 2000 (E-2000) is a far-right political party in Spain which has never obtained national or regional parliamentary representation. The last time it ran for General elections was in 2011, where it obtained 9266 votes out of a total of 24,59 ...

had erected without municipal permission. The party accused him of impeding the right to free speech, and of inciting hatred. The case was dismissed on appeal for the second time in March 2014. In March 2014, Sebastià received 54% of the votes to lead Compromís in the

2014 European Parliament election in Spain The 2014 European Parliament election in Spain was held on Sunday, 25 May 2014, as part of the EU-wide election to elect the 8th European Parliament. All 54 seats allocated to Spain as per the Treaty of Lisbon were up for election. The People' ...

, in which they would be aligned with parties including

Greens Equo Greens Equo (and formerly Q or eQuo) is a Spanish political party founded on 4 June 2011, when 35 Spanish green parties agreed to merge into Equo. It began as a foundation on 24 September 2010 with the goal of becoming "the seed and source of de ...

and

Chunta Aragonesista The Chunta Aragonesista (CHA; en, Aragonese Union)Rendering the party's name has created some confusions due to the similarity with the Spanish word ''junta''. The right translation of Aragonese ''chunta'' is ''unión'' in Spanish and '' union'' ...

. He was the sole member elected from his coalition, which was called the European Spring. Per an agreement between the two parties, he ceded his seat to Equo's

Florent Marcellesi Florent Marcellesi (born 1979) is a French politician and activist based in Spain. Federal Co-Spokesperson of Equo since 2020, he previously served as Member of the European Parliament from 2016 to 2019. Biography Born on 10 April 1979 in Angers ...

in October 2016. In April 2019, Sebastià was chosen to lead the coalition for the

2019 European Parliament election in Spain The 2019 European Parliament election in Spain was held on Sunday, 26 May 2019, as part of the EU-wide election to elect the 9th European Parliament. All 54 seats allocated to Spain as per the Treaty of Lisbon were up for election.: Once the U ...

, now named Commitment to Europe. The party's votes fell by over 10,000, dropping from 1.92% to 1.31% and losing their only seat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebastia, Jordi 1966 births Living people People from Burjassot Spanish journalists Academic staff of the University of Valencia Valencian Nationalist Bloc politicians Coalició Compromís politicians Mayors of places in the Valencian Community MEPs for Spain 2014–2019