Pernando Barrena

Joxe Pernando Barrena Arza (born 1 November 1965) is a Basque politician, former member of the Parliament of Navarre and a member of the European Parliament for Spain.

In this Basque name, the first family name is Barrena and the second is Arza.

Pernando Barrena MEP
Barrena in October 2019
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 July 2019
Constituency	Spain
Member of the Parliament of Navarre
In office 2 July 1999 – 1 April 2003
Member of Berriozar Municipal Council
In office 1984–1999
Personal details
Born	Joxe Pernando Barrena Arza (1965-11-01) 1 November 1965 Pamplona, Navarre, Spain
Political party	Sortu
Other political affiliations	EH Bildu

Early life

Barrena was born on 1 November 1965 in Pamplona, Navarre.[1] His father José María Barrena Inza was a socialist mayor of Berriozar.[2][3] He has Técnico Superior qualification in international trade and a degree in international relations from UOC.[4]

Career

Barrena is a translator by profession and worked at the Txalaparta publishing house in Tafalla translating Basque and English.[1][5]

Barrena joined Abertzale left (Ezker abertzalea) as a youth.[4] He was a municipal councillor in Berriozar from 1984 to 1999.[1][4][6]

Barrena was first arrested in 1985 for links to the separatist Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).[5] In 1998, he along with Arnaldo Otegi and Joseba Permach, came to public prominence after the previous leadership of Herri Batasuna (HB) were jailed for links to ETA.[2][5] Barrena's language skills resulted in him representing HB on an international level.[2] He became a member of HB's national executive in 1998 and was the party's spokesperson from 2001 to 2008.[3][4][7] He contested the 1999 regional election in Navarre as an Euskal Herritarrok electoral alliance candidate and was elected to the Parliament of Navarre.[3][8]

In 2001 Barrena became a member of the national executive of the newly formed Batasuna, the successor to HB which had been dissolved.[9] He was the lead candidate at the 2003 regional election in Navarre for the Autodeterminaziorako Bilgunea (AuB) electoral alliance but the Supreme Court annulled the list as it considered AuB to be a successor to Batasuna which had been banned in March 2003.[2]

Following the death of two ETA prisoners, Igor Angulo Iturrate and Roberto Sainz del Olmo, Basque nationalists organised a strike in March 2006 which resulted in violence across Navarre and the Basque Country.[2] Barrena and other leaders of Batasuna were arrested ion the orders of judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska who held them responsible for attacks by the strikers.[5][10] Barrena was released after paying a deposit of €200,000.[5]

Barrena was a candidate at the 2007 regional election in Navarre for the Nafarroako Abertzale Sozialistak electoral alliance which was also annulled by the Supreme Court.[2] On 4 February 2008 a conference was held at the Hotel Tres Reyes, Pamplona involving Batasuna, Basque Nationalist Party and Socialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left which was attended by Batasuna leaders Barrena, Patxi Urrutia and Unai Fanorekin.[11][12] Barrena and Urrutia were arrested on 4 February 2008 on the orders of judge Baltasar Garzón for "supporting the activity of an illegal political party".[7] Barrena was released on 3 February 2010 after paying a deposit of €50,000.[13]

Barrena was co-spokesperson for Sortu from 2012 to 2016.[4] In April 2019 he was chosen by EH Bildu to be its leading candidate at the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain following the resignation of Josu Juaristi.[6][14] He contested the election as an Ahora Repúblicas electoral alliance candidate in Spain and was elected to the European Parliament.[15][16]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Pernando Barrena

Election	Constituency	Party		Alliance		No.	Result
1999 regional[3][8]	Navarre		Herri Batasuna		Euskal Herritarrok	1	Elected
2019 European[15][16]	Spain		Sortu		Ahora Repúblicas	2	Elected

References

1. Zabaleta Echarte, Sagrario; Bergasa, Javier (27 May 2019). "Tres navarros de izquierdas ocuparán por primera vez escaño en Europa". Noticias de Navarra (in Spanish). Pamplona, Spain. Archived from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
2. "Pernando Barrena, diez años en la dirección de Batasuna". El Correo (in Spanish). Bilbao, Spain. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
3. "Barrena, el rostro más visible de Batasuna tras el golpe a la formación". Sur (in Spanish). Malaga, Spain. EFE. 23 February 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
4. "Día de Europa" (in Basque and Spanish). Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain: Basque Parliament. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
5. "Batasuna dice que el arresto de Barrena es una señal del "pánico" del PSOE". El País (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
6. "Pernando Barrena proposatu du EH Bilduk Europako zerrendaburu". Berria (in Basque). Andoain, Spain. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
7. Alonso, José Mari (12 April 2019). "Barrena vuelve a la primera línea de Bildu: el 82% de las bases avala que lidere las europeas". El Confidencial (in Spanish). pp. Madrid, Spain. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
8. "Administracion del Estado: Junta Electoral Provincial de Navarra - Edicto". Boletín Oficial de Navarra (in Spanish). No. 62. Pamplona, Spain: Government of Navarre. 18 May 1999. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
9. "El Perfil: Joxe Pernando Barrena Arza". El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 1 June 2006. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
10. "¿Quién es quién en Batasuna?". El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 1 June 2006. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
11. "Detenidos los dirigentes de Batasuna Pernando Barrena y Patxi Urrutia". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
12. "Detienen a los líderes de Batasuna Pernando Barrena y Patxi Urrutia". El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. 5 February 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
13. "Barrena sale de la cárcel tras pagar 50.000 euros de fianza". Público (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain. Europa Press. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
14. "La Mesa Política de EH Bildu propone a Pernando Barrena para el Parlamento Europeo". Naiz (in Spanish). San Sebastián, Spain. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
15. "Otras Disposiciones: Junta Electoral Central – Elecciones al Parlamento Europeo. Candidaturas proclamadas" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). No. 103. Madrid, Spain: Government of Spain. 30 April 2019. p. 46877. ISSN 0212-033X. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
16. "Lista de los 54 eurodiputados elegidos este domingo en España". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

External links

Pernando Barrena on Twitter