Juan José Ibarretxe Markuartu (born May 15, 1957) is a Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

 politician of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. A leading member of the Basque Nationalist Party

Basque Nationalist Party

The Basque National Party is the largest and oldest Basque nationalist party. It is currently the largest political party in the Basque Autonomous Community also with a minor presence in Navarre and a marginal one in the French Basque Country...

 (PNV), he was President (lehendakari) of Spain's Basque Country

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

 autonomous community from January 2, 1999 to May 7, 2009.

He was born in Llodio in the province of Álava

Álava

Álava is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Álava. Its capital city is Vitoria-Gasteiz which is also the capital of the autonomous community...

, and holds a degree in Economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 from the University of the Basque Country

University of the Basque Country

The University of the Basque Country is the only public university in the Basque Country, in Northern Spain...

. In 1983 he was elected a member of the Basque Parliament for Álava, representing the PNV, and from then on rose steadily to prominence. From 1986-1990 and 1991-1994 he was the President of the PNV Economic and Budgetary Commission. On January 4, 1995 then Basque President José Antonio Ardanza

José Antonio Ardanza Garro

José Antonio Ardanza Garro is a former Basque politician that became the second elected Lehendakari after the approval of the Statute of Autonomy. He was in office between 1985 and 1999....

 appointed him Vice President. He was nominated PNV presidential candidate on March 28, 1998 to compete in the October 25 Basque election and became President on January 2, 1999. In October 2003 he released the highly controversial Ibarretxe Plan

Ibarretxe Plan

The Political statute of the Community of the Basque Country, more known as Ibarretxe Plan was a proposal by former lehendakari Juan Jose Ibarretxe to radically alter the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country proposing a free association of the Basque Country with Spain on an equal footing, and...

 (Plan Ibarretxe), which foresees a future Basque country 'freely associated

Commonwealth

Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...

' with Spain, with its own separate legal system and European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 (EU) representation. Javier Solana

Javier Solana

Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...

, the Spanish EU foreign policy chief said in February 2005 that the plan had no place within the proposed EU constitution

Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe , , was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union...

.

Ibarretxe grew up speaking only Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, but now speaks fluent Basque

Basque language

Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...

 and English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. He is an avid cycling

Cycling

Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

 fan and has presided over a cycling club in Llodio

Llodio

Laudio/Llodio is a town and municipality located in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Laudio is the name in Basque language and Llodio in Spanish; both are used indistinctly.-Geography and Demography:...

. He is married to Begoña Arregui, with whom he has two children. He is a non-practising Roman Catholic.

External links

• New Opportunities for Peace in the Basque Area: A Discussion with Juan José Ibarretxe U.S. Institute of Peace, June 2006 (Audio, Remarks and Photos)