Fernando Maura Barandiarán is a Spanish lawyer, politician and writer.

Early life and education

Fernando Maura was born in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

in April 1955, he is the great-grandson of Antonio Maura, President during the reign of Alfonso XIII. He studied law at the

University of Deusto The University of Deusto (; ) is a Spanish private university owned by the Society of Jesus, with campuses in Bilbao and San Sebastián, and the Deusto Business School branch in Madrid. The University of Deusto is the oldest private university ...

, specializing in economic law. In 1980, while studying for the Diplomatic School, the separatist group

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

assassinated his father's associate Enrique Aresti Urien and so Fernando had to return to Bilbao to help with the family business, the insurer named "La Union y el Fenix". Subsequently, he was elected as a member of the board of management of the "Bureau International des Producteurs d'Assurances et des Reassurances", based in Paris; and as regional director of "La Union y el Fenix" in the Basque Country.

Political career

From 1983 to 1987 Fernando Maura served as a councilor in the city of Bilbao. In 1989, together with

Jaime Mayor Oreja Jaime Mayor Oreja (born 12 July 1951) is a former Spanish conservative politician of the People's Party. He served as member of the Basque Parliament, of the Spanish Parliament, and of the European Parliament, as well as being Spanish Ministe ...

, he took part in the foundation of the People's Party in the Basque Country and became its Secretary-general until 1992. In 1990 Maura was elected as a member of the Basque Parliament where he was the spokesman of the areas of Finance, Employment, Social Affairs and Culture until 2007, year in which he decided to leave the People's Party and founded, together with other Spanish politicians, a new party called Unión, Progreso y Democracia. Since then, he became the Territorial Council spokesman of the party in the Basque Country, the coordinator of the international area and a member of the Board of Directors until August 2014.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2015

In May 2014, Maura was elected as a Member of the European Parliament. He served on the

Committee on Culture and Education The Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the committee This committee has focused on the well-being of all members of the human race and the increased opportunities for educat ...

and the delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) is an international organization established in 2005 by the national parliaments of the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region. It is the legal successor of the Conference on Security and ...

from 2014 until 2015. He was also one of six vice-presidents of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE), under the leadership of chairman

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium from 2009 until 2024. He was a me ...

. In addition to this, Maura served as vice-chair of the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the

Arab Maghreb Union The Arab Maghreb Union ( '; AMU/UMA) is a political union and economic union trade agreement aiming for economic and future political unity among Arab countries that are located primarily in the Maghreb in North Africa. Its members are the natio ...

and substitute in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Security and Defence and the Delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. In 2015, Maura and

Dita Charanzová Dita Charanzová (born 30 April 1975) is a Czech politician, consultant and former senior civil servant, focusing on European Union issues. She was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from July 2014 to July 2024 and its vice-president fro ...

nominated the

Democratic Unity Roundtable The Democratic Unity Roundtable (, MUD) was a catch-all electoral coalition of Venezuelan political parties formed in January 2008 to unify the opposition to President Hugo Chávez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela in the 2010 Venezue ...

(MUD), a Venezuelan election coalition formed to unify the opposition to president

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

, for the

Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...

Member of the Spanish Parliament, since 2016

In addition to his role in parliament, Maura has been serving as member of the Spanish delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

since late 2016. As member of Ciudadanos, he is part of the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; , ADLE) was a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. ALDE had political ...

group. In that capacity, he is a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. He was also a member of a cross-party delegation to observe the 2017 parliamentary elections in

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

.AD HOC Committee for the Observation of the Parliamentary Elections in Albania, 25 June 2017

, press release of June 20, 2017.

Other activities

Maura is also the patron of the Foundation of Freedom and director of the liberal company "El Sitio". He was appointed as vice-president of Prisoners Defenders International in September 2021. He has been involved in the citizens' initiative ''

¡Basta Ya! ''¡Basta Ya!'' () was a Spanish grassroots organization uniting individuals of various political positions against terrorism and violence, notably ETA (separatist group), ETA, and against the proposal for a new Statute of Autonomy of the Basque ...

'', and has collaborated with the Spanish journals ''

El Correo ''El Correo'' (; ) is a leading daily newspaper in Bilbao and the Basque Country of northern Spain. It is among best-selling general interest newspapers in Spain. History and profile The brothers Ybarra y de la Revilla – Fernando, Gabriel and ...

'', '' El Mundo'' and ''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

'', among others. Moreover, he has published several novels, a book-witness, a collaborative trial, as well as articles in various newspapers and magazines. In addition, he holds the following other positions: *Member of the Board of Trustees of *Member of the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country *Member of the Royal Brotherhood of the knights of San Fernando

Literary work and publications

*Conflicto en Chemical, Burguete, 1993. *Últimos días de Agosto, Burguete, 1995. *El doble viaje de Agustín Ceballos, Burguete, 1999. *Sin perder la dignidad: diario de un parliamentario vasco del PP, Temas de Hoy, 2001. *Bilbao en gris, Hiria, 2003. *Lakua: kosas ke okurrieron, Sepha, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maura Barandiaran, Fernando 1955 births Living people 20th-century Spanish lawyers 20th-century Spanish writers 21st-century Spanish writers University of Deusto alumni MEPs for Spain 2014–2019 Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Union, Progress and Democracy MEPs Politicians from Bilbao 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