Miguel Urbán Crespo (born 26 March 1980) is a Spanish activist and politician. A longstanding figure of the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

Izquierda Anticapitalista Anticapitalistas (Catalan: ''Anticapitalistes'', Euskera: ''Antikapitalistak'', English language: Anticapitalists), known as Izquierda Anticapitalista (Anti-Capitalist Left, IA) until January 2015 and as Espacio Alternativo (Alternative Space, ...

platform (renamed as Anticapitalistas after 2015) and co-founder of Podemos, he serves as

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 2015, integrated within the

European United Left–Nordic Green Left European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

political group.

Biography

Born on 26 March 1980 en Madrid, he is son of Luis Miguel Urbán Fernández, a member of the trotskyist Revolutionary Communist League who suffered torture enacted by

Billy el Niño Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a youn ...

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. He studied history at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

(UCM), although he did not graduate. Urban worked as librarian in ''La Marabunta''. He ran in the 20th place of the Anticapitalist Left-Global Revolt list vis-à-vis the

2009 European Parliament election in Spain The 2009 European Parliament election in Spain was held on Sunday, 7 June 2009, as part of the EU-wide election to elect the 7th European Parliament. All 50 seats allocated to Spain as per the Treaty of Nice—54 after the Treaty of Lisbon came i ...

. He led the trotskyist Anticapitalist Left (IA) list 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 ...

to the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

in the 2011 general election.Candidaturas proclamadas para las elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados y al Senado
Boletín Oficial del Estado, 25 de octubre de 2011. One of the most prominent figures of IA, he helped to give form along 2013 through conversations with Pablo Iglesias to the main idea of the project that would become Podemos, tensions between the ''anticapitalistas'' and the UCM lecturers notwithstanding. On 17 January 2014, he was among the partakers of the event at the in

Lavapiés Lavapiés is a historic neighbourhood in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located in the administrative ward (barrio) of Embajadores in the downtown Centro District, southwest of neighbouring neighbourhood La Latina. The name literally means "w ...

that presented the ''Mover ficha'' manifesto, the foundational text of Podemos. He was included 7th in the Podemos list for the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

. Following the renouncements of Carlos Jiménez Villarejo and

Teresa Rodríguez María Teresa Rodríguez-Rubio Vázquez (; born 18 September 1981) is a Spanish politician. Active in the United Left in her youth, she then set up her own platform, Anticapitalistas. She was a Member of the European Parliament representing Po ...

to their respective seats, Urbán became an MEP on 5 March 2015. He served as member of the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

(ITRE; 2015) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET; 2015–2019), as well as in the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union and the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean. He ran as a Unidas Podemos Cambiar Europa electoral coalition list candidate 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 ...

, being re-elected to the European Parliament for the 2019–2024 term. He joined the

Committee on Development The Committee on Development (Commission du développement, DEVE) is a committee of the European Parliament responsible for promoting, implementing and monitoring the development and cooperation policy of the European Union, notably talks with deve ...

(EVE) and the DROI as well as the Delegation for relations with Mercosur (DMER) and the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (DLAT). In February 2020, Urbán left Podemos alongside the platform Anticapitalistas, heir to Anticapitalist Left and hitherto integrated within the party. On 2 March 2022, he was one of 13 MEPs who voted against the resolution condemning the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

and for arming Ukraine.

Works

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References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Urban, Miguel Living people 1980 births People from Madrid Podemos (Spanish political party) MEPs MEPs for Spain 2019–2024 MEPs for Spain 2014–2019 Spanish anti-capitalists Spanish Trotskyists