Gorka Urtaran Agirre (born 21 December 1973) is a Spanish politician of the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV). He was elected mayor of

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ), also alternatively spelled as Vittoria in old English-language sources, is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country and of the province of Álava in northern Spain. It holds the autonomous community' ...

in 2015.

Biography

Urtaran was born in

, Álava. His mother, María Jesús Agirre, was a Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV) politician who was deputy mayor of the city during the mandate of José Ángel Cuerda and 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 Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

from 1995 to 1997. He graduated in Sociology from the

University of the Basque Country The University of the Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, ''EHU''; es, Universidad del País Vasco, ''UPV''; UPV/EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Bilbao, initiall ...

, where he studied at its

Leioa Leioa ( es, Lejona) is a municipality in Biscay, Basque Country, in northern Spain. It is located south of Getxo and Berango delimitating east and south with Erandio, Portugalete and Sestao. Today it is part of the Bilbao conurbation. Its populat ...

campus and wrote a postgraduate thesis on migration. After being a civil servant in the Vitoria-Gasteiz Department of Social Intervention, Urtaran served in his province's

Juntas Generales The Juntas Generales (General Councils, Batzar Nagusiak in Basque) are representative assemblies in the Southern Basque Country that go back to the 14th century. Trask, L. ''The History of Basque'' Routledge: 1997 They are the Foral Parliament ...

from 2007 to 2011. In December 2010, he was confirmed as the EAJ-PNV candidate for mayor in the next year's elections. His party came second to the People's Party (PP), whose leader

Javier Maroto Javier Ignacio Maroto Aranzabal is a Spanish politician serving as senator from Castile and León since 24 July 2019 and Spokesperson of the Popular Group in the Senate since 30 July. He was the Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, from 2011 to 2015, the ...

was invested as mayor. Four years later, the EAJ-PNV lost a seat and fell to third behind the PP and

EH Bildu EH Bildu, short for Euskal Herria Bildu ( en, link=yes, Basque Country Gather or Basque Country Unite) is a left-wing, Basque nationalist, pro-independence political coalition active in the Spanish autonomous communities of Basque Country, Nava ...

, but Urtaran was invested as mayor with the votes of his party, EH Bildu and two smaller groups. In

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 ...

, he won a second term with the support of the Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE-EE).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urtaran, Gorka 1973 births Living people People from Vitoria-Gasteiz University of the Basque Country alumni Municipal councillors in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Mayors of Vitoria-Gasteiz Basque Nationalist Party politicians