Francisco Javier "Patxi" López Álvarez (; born 4 October 1959) is a Spanish politician serving as

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 Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members ele ...

and chair of the Constitutional Committee. Previously, he has served as President of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country from 2009 to 2012 and

President of the Congress of Deputies The president of the Congress of Deputies ( es, Presidente del Congreso de los Diputados) is the speaker of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes Generales (the Spanish parliament). The president is elected among the members o ...

, the lower house of the Spanish

Cortes Generales The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets ...

, in the short lived 11th legislature from January 2016 to July 2016. He was also

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

Socialist Party of Euskadi - Euskadiko Ezkerra Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

(PSE-EE), the Basque affiliate of 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), from 2002 to 2014.

Political career

López, born into a socialist family, was influenced early in life by the political stance of his father,

Eduardo López Albizu Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footb ...

, a prominent Spanish left-wing anti-Francoist activist. He joined the Young Basque Socialist movement in 1975, and was its Secretary-General from 1985 to 1988. He joined PSE in 1977, and was elected to the

Spanish 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 Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

at the 1986 General Election representing Vizcaya Province. In the PSE he rose steadily to prominence before being elected Secretary-General in 1997, having become a Member 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 1991. He is known for his opposition to Basque independence. In 2005, he was the PSE-EE's candidate for the presidency of the Basque Country, but lost out to

Juan José Ibarretxe Juan José Ibarretxe Markuartu (born 15 March 1957) is a former president of the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain. Also a leading member of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) during the period, he held office from 2 January 1999 to 7 May 20 ...

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 ...

(PNV). In the 2009 election, the Nationalist Party was the party with the most votes with 30 seats, followed by the Socialist Party, with 25 seats. The illegalisation of a party representing a sizeable voting segment, the Left Basque Nationalist Party

Batasuna Batasuna (; en, Unity) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money. The party is included in the "European Unio ...

, enabled the socialists to reach an agreement with the People's Party for López to be elected as ''

Lehendakari The President of the Basque Government ( eu, Eusko Jaurlaritzako lehendakaria, es, presidente del Gobierno Vasco), usually known in the Basque language as the Lehendakari ( eu, lehendakari, es, lendakari), is the head of government of the Basq ...

'' (Basque president). He was elected to the position on 5 May 2009 in the

, effectively ending thirty years of Basque nationalist rule in the Basque Country, in what was perceived as a controversial election due to the absence of any party representing the secessionist Left Basque Nationalist spectrum. On 13 January 2016, he was elected President 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 ...

for the short eleventh legislature, with 130 votes (the deputies of PSOE and

Citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

) out of 350.

References

External links

Patxi López Blog
, - , - 1959 births Living people Members of the 4th Basque Parliament Members of the 5th Basque Parliament Members of the 6th Basque Parliament Members of the 7th Basque Parliament Members of the 8th Basque Parliament Members of the 9th Basque Parliament Members of the 10th Basque Parliament Members of the 3rd Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 11th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) People from Portugalete Presidents of the Basque Government Presidents of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) {{BasqueCountry-politician-stub