José Ignacio "Nacho" Sánchez Amor (; born 1960) is a Spanish politician who was elected as 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 ...

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 ...

Early life and education

Born on 15 May 1960 in Cáceres, he was raised in

Jaraíz de la Vera Jaraíz de la Vera is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2012 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 6727 inhabitants. It is situated to the north of Extremadura and it is the capit ...

. He moved to

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 ...

and became a member of the People's Socialist Party (PSP) in 1977, attending the April 1978 party congress in

Torrelodones Torrelodones is a municipality in the northwest of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Spain. It is situated 29 kilometers northwest from the city of Madrid. Because of its location between the Sierra de Guadarrama and the metropolitan area of the ...

in which the merge with the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE) was decided. He dropped studies in medicine and switched to law, earning a licentiate degree in Law 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). He was a postgraduate scholar at the Centro de Estudios Constitucionales (CEC).

Political career

Career in state politics

Having joined the Corps of attorneys of the regional government of Extremadura in 1986, Sánchez Amor served as Chief of Staff of

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (Mérida, Spain 19 January 1948) is a Spanish politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was President of the Regional Government of Extremadura for 24 years (1983–2007). Biography He gained a ...

, the regional president of Extremadura, between 1996 and 2004. Sánchez Amor was appointed as regional Vice-President in 2004, serving until 2007. He ran as candidate in the 2007 Extremadura regional election and, elected, he became the Spokesperson of the Socialist Parliamentary Group in the Assembly of Extremadura.

Career in national politics

Sánchez Amor became a member of 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 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2011. * Local electoral calendar 2011 * National electoral calendar 2011 * 2011 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2011 Beninese presidential election * 2011 Beninese parliamentary el ...

and was re-elected at the 2015 and 2016 elections. In addition to his parliamentary work, Sánchez Amor was a member of the Spanish delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (OSCE PA) is an institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The primary task of the 323-member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, an important aspect of the o ...

, where he chaired the Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions. In this capacity, he led short-term OSCE observer missions during the 2015 general election in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

; the 2016 parliamentary elections in Georgia; and the

2018 Turkish presidential election Presidential elections were held in Turkey on 24 June 2018 as part of the 2018 general election, alongside parliamentary elections on the same day. They were the first direct presidential elections, following constitutional amendments approved ...

. On June 23, 2018 Minister Meritxell Batet appointed him as Secretary of State for Territorial Policy. He served as the 11th Secretary of State until June 29, 2019.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

In 2019, Sánchez Amor left his government office to run in the EU elections. He was 12th one the PSOE list 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 ...

and became an MEP. In parliament, Sánchez Amor has since been serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its

Subcommittee on Human Rights The Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) is a subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of human rights and democracy, including ensuring their implementation in European Union policy, ...

. In this capacity, he has been the parliament's rapporteur on relations with Turkey. In addition to his committee assignments, Sánchez Amor is part of the parliament's delegations to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee and to the

Euronest Parliamentary Assembly The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the inter-parliamentary forum in which members of the European Parliament and the national parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia participate and forge closer political and economic ...

. He also led a European Union observer mission to the 2019 general elections in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. He is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights, the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability. and the

Spinelli Group The Spinelli Group is an initiative founded with a view to reinvigorate the endeavour for federalisation of the European Union (EU), by creating a network of citizens, think tanks, NGOs, academics, writers and politicians who support the idea o ...

.Board & Members

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez Amor, Ignacio Living people MEPs for Spain 2019–2024 Members of the 10th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 11th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 7th Assembly of Extremadura 1960 births Secretaries of State of Spain MEPs for Spain 2024–2029