Juan Manuel Eguiagaray Ucelay (25 December 1945 – 29 May 2025) was a Spanish economist, academic, businessman, and politician. He served as the Minister of Industry and Energy from 1993 to 1996.

Early life and education

Eguiagaray was born into a family of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

origin 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 ...

on 25 December 1945. He received degrees in economics and law from 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 ...

in Bilbao and held a PhD degree in economics.

Career

From 1970 to 1982 Eguiagaray taught economics at the

. In the 1970s he entered politics and became a member of the

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

. He was also named a member of the PSOE's executive committee. He was elected to the

Spanish Parliament The (; ) 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 Palacio de las Cortes. The Senate meets in the Palac ...

, representing

Murcia province The Region of Murcia (, ; ; ) is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean coast. The region is in area and had a population of 1,511,251 as at the start of 2020. About a ...

. He was one of the negotiators for Spanish government in the talks with

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 ...

in Algiers in 1989 as he was one of Minister of the Interior

José Luis Corcuera José Luis Corcuera (born 1944) is a Spanish politician who served as interior minister of Spain from 1988 to 1993. Early life Corcuera hails from a Basque family. He was born in 1944 and was raised in Bilbao. He left school at 14. Career Corc ...

's right-hand man.Former Socialist minister Juan Manuel Eguiagaray dies
/ref> He was named the Minister for Public Administration in 1991 in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

of Prime Minister

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a retired Spanish politician who was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest-serving democratically- ...

replacing

Joaquín Almunia Joaquín Almunia Amann (born 17 June 1948) is a Spanish politician and former member of the European Commission. During his tenure in the two Barroso Commissions, he was European commissioner responsible for economic and monetary affairs (2004� ...

in the post. He served in the post until 1993 when he was appointed

Minister for Industry and Energy The Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport () is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland The Government of Ireland () is the executive (government), executive authority of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, headed by the , the h ...

in a

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

and replaced

Claudio Aranzadi José Claudio Aranzadi Martínez (born 9 October 1946) is a Spanish engineer, businessman and politician. He served as industry minister from 1988 to 1993. Early life and education Aranzadi was born in Bilbao on 9 October 1946. He holds a bache ...

in the post. Eguiagaray was in office until 1996 and retired from politics in 2001. After leaving politics, Eguiagaray returned to teaching. He taught

macroeconomics Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output (econ ...

and

applied economics Applied economics is the application of economic theory and econometrics in specific settings. As one of the two sets of fields of economics (the other set being the ''core''), it is typically characterized by the application of the ''core'', i.e ...

, and was an associate professor at

Carlos III University University Charles III of Madrid () (UC3M) is a public university in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Established in 1989, UC3M is an institution with a distinctly international profile. It offers a broad range of master's and bachelor's degree p ...

in Madrid until 30 September 2006. He also served as the director of the

European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been the ...

until February 2013. He was the director of studies at the

Fundación Alternativas Fundación Alternativas () is a Spanish progressive think tank created in 1997 in Madrid which aims to discuss issues of interest to citizens and act as a channel of political, social, economic and cultural thought. Although many members of its ...

, a Madrid-based think tank.

Death

Eguiagaray died on 29 May 2025, at the age of 79.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eguiagaray, Juan Manuel 1945 births 2025 deaths 20th-century Spanish economists Airbus people Academic staff of the Charles III University of Madrid Government ministers of Spain Members of the 2nd Basque Parliament Members of the 3rd Basque Parliament Members of the 6th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 7th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Politicians from Bilbao Spanish corporate directors Members of the 1st Basque Parliament Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians University of Deusto alumni Academic staff of the University of Deusto