Euskadi already has a new government. According to the information accessed by this newspaper and later confirmed by the executive, Ibone Bengoetxea will be the first deputy lehendakari and Minister of Culture and the Basque Country, Mikel Torres the second deputy lehendakari, strongman of the PSE -EE and Head of Labor and Employment and Bingen Zupiria, who will continue in this position, will transfer to the direct security service. Only him, Nerea Melgosa and Javier Hurtado repeat.
Dr. Alberto Martínez will take on the Health portfolio and Begoña Pedrosa will head Education. Similarly, Amaia Barredo, who was investigated in a court in Vitoria over a complaint from her time as Deputy Environment Minister and now deputy for Álava, will head Food, Rural Development and Fisheries. The government also includes the return of former adviser María Jesús San José, who was already with Urkullu and who will head Justice and Human Rights (including prisons) within the socialist quota. The spokesperson will be María Ubarretxena of the PNV from Guipuzcoa.
It is the largest in democratic history, with fifteen councilors alongside the Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales. There are ten from the PNV and five from the PSE-EE. There are so many that they do not even fit on the bench of the Basque parliament, which reserves fourteen seats for the executive. One fact: Iñigo Urkullu started with eight directors and has had a total of 23. They will all formally take office this Tuesday at the Ajuria Enea Palace and immediately afterwards the traditional family photo will be taken before the first government council of the new phase.
The ten councilors of the PNV
Ibone Bengoetxea Otaolea. Born in Bilbao in 1967, she was a councilor in Bilbao and president of the Association of Municipalities of Eudel. She was Pradales' colleague in the Provincial Council and now held a management position at EiTB. He has a degree in psychology. She is the new First Vice President and Head of Culture and the Basque Country. “Her political career started in 2003 at the Bilbao City Council, where she was councilor for Traffic and Transport, Culture and Education. From 2011 to 2015 he was president of the Association of Basque Municipalities EUDEL. Between 2015 and 2021 she was regional representative for Public Administration and Institutional Relations, where she led areas such as municipal relations, personnel management, digital transformation and open government. She has a degree in psychology from the University of Deusto,” the official biography reads.
Noël d'Anjou Olaizola. Irunés has taken over the portfolio of the Ministry of Finance since 1975. “He has a solid career in the financial and banking sector that started at Crédit Agricole Indosuez Group as a financial advisor. Since 2014, he has held various positions at Kutxabank, where he has built up extensive experience in the management and development of financial services. Since 2023, he has been Director of Retail Business Development and since March 2024 he has also been Director at Norbolsa Sociedad de Valores y Bolsa SA,” the government explains. And he adds: “He has a degree in business administration and management from the University of Deusto, an Executive Masters in Financial Risk Management from the BME Institute, and an expert in general management from Deusto Business School.”
Maria Ubarretxena. Born in Urretxu in 1980, he will lead governance, digital governance and self-governance. She was a high-ranking government official, mayor of Arrasate-Mondrágon and currently regional deputy in Gipuzkoa. “His career started at private companies in the Marketing and Export departments. Her interest in the cooperative world led her to work professionally at the Goizper Group, where her work continued to focus on exports and international activities,” she is quoted as saying.
Mikel Jauregi. He comes from Zarautz and was born in 1974. He is involved in Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability. He has worked abroad. “He has more than twenty years of global experience in the energy sector, having worked in the UK, US, Russia, Angola and Brazil. He currently worked in the UK as a manager at Centrica Plc, managing electricity, hydrogen and renewable energy generation projects in several European countries. Between 2020 and 2022, he worked at BP Plc (formerly BP British Petroleum) in the gas and renewables division, where he led the integration of the new division and the design of the business model for growth in offshore wind and hydrogen. In addition, he was a member of the board of directors of one of the most important solar energy development companies in Europe and the US (2019-2022). He has a degree in sociology, with a specialty in industrial relations, from the University of Deusto (1997) and a master's degree from the London School of Economics,” the government points out.
Bingen Zupiria. Hernani, 1961. Journalist, was a high official at EiTB and director of 'Deia'. He was responsible for communications with José Antonio Ardanza and joined Urkullu's second government as Head of Culture. He has been a spokesperson since 2020. He will now take over the Security portfolio.
Begoña Pedrosa. At the age of 49, she was Deputy Minister of Education in this crucial legislature in which the reform of the Basque law was approved. Now he will lead the portfolio, replacing Jokin Bildarratz, but will lose the powers of the universities. “She has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), where she obtained the qualification excellent cum laude with international mention in 2011. In addition, she holds a Master of Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1999), a bachelor's degree in English philology from the University of Deusto (1997), an MBA from Mondragon Unibertsitatea (2017), a diploma of advanced studies from the UPV/EHU (2008) and a Certificate of Pedagogical Aptitude from the University of Deusto (1997)”, stands out from it.
Alberto Martinez. The doctor is head of the anesthesia service at the largest Basque hospital, Cruces, and will now head Health. He was a member of the opposition panel in 2018 under investigation over allegations of leaks and which had its epicenter precisely in the Anesthesia category. The official note states: “In his professional career, from 2002 to the present, he was Head of the Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Pain Therapy of the University Hospital of Cruces and Associate Professor of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine of the UPV. -EHU. To date, he has also served as President of the Basque-Navarra and Rioja Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Pain Therapy (SVNRARTD) and the Department of Anesthesia and Resuscitation of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Bilbao (ACMB). He is also a member of the Medical Ethics Committee of the College of Physicians of Bizkaia and a member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation (SEDAR).
Amaia Barredo. He will lead rural development, food and fisheries. She is provincial delegate for Álava and Deputy Minister of the Environment. A complaint of cheating is currently being investigated at a court in Vitoria. The Ethics Commission ruled that he could be a high-ranking official, at least until the opening of a trial was declared, where appropriate.
Nerea Melgosa Vega. Born in Vitoria in 1970, she continues for a second term, albeit now with a smaller portfolio than the previous one. She will be an advisor on Welfare, Youth and Demographic Challenge. Melgosa was a councilor in Vitoria and a member of the Euzkadi Buru Batzar, always responsible for social issues. In 2023, she joined the Urkullu government to take charge of the macro portfolio of equality, justice and social policy when its owner, Beatriz Artolazabal, for whom she was an advisor, became deputy mayor of Vitoria.
Juan Ignacio Perez Iglesias. He was born in Salamanca in 1960 and will take on the newly created University, Science and Innovation portfolio. Pérez Iglesias was rector of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) between 2004 and 2008. He obtained his PhD in biology in 1986 and is professor of Physiology. He has copious publications. One is signed with the father of one of Pradales' closest advisors, Pello Salaburu.
The five councilors of the PSE-EE
Mikel Torres Lorenzo. Second Vice President and Chief of Labor and Employment. Torres was born in 1970. He has a degree in economics and a master's degree in finance from UPV/EHU. He has been mayor of Portugalete since 2008. It is a town in Biscay, a fief of the PSE-EE. Patxi López is from there and Eneko Andueza lives there, but also Pradales himself. He is also the leader of the Socialists of Biscay. He has held other positions related to his status as a councilor, such as chairman of the Bizkaia Transport Consortium. Historically, the PSE-EE has had very relevant people as Vice-Presidents, such as Ramón Jáuregui, Fernando Buesa and, in recent years, Idoia Mendia.
Javier Hurtado Dominguez. Born in Madrid in 1981 and living in Vitoria, he was the youngest director at Urkullu and is now the only one to retain his positions from four years ago, Tourism, Trade and Consumption. In Ferraz he was an advisor to former minister José Blanco. In Euskadi he was regional deputy in Álava for transport before being recruited within the socialist quota for the third Urkullu government. At the head of Tourism, Trade and Consumer Affairs, he dealt with the impact of the pandemic on their sectors and was a member of the emergency health crisis table known as Labi. After Mendia left to become a Member of the European Parliament, she also temporarily took over the Labor and Employment portfolio, a position she has held since April.
Denis Itxaso. Born in Donostia in 1975, he joined the Basque Government for Housing and Urban Agenda after leaving his position as deputy of the Pedro Sánchez government in Euskadi a few weeks ago. He was the first Basque speaker to take on this responsibility. He had previously been lieutenant general in Gipuzkoa, also within a coalition with the PNV. He made his debut in politics as a councilor in Donostia with Odón Elorza, with whom he has always had a good relationship.
Susana Garcia Chueca. Donostiarra from 1969 is the new Minister of Sustainable Mobility. She was a councilor in Gipuzkoa and a councilor in Donostia.
Maria Jesus San José. Sestaotarra will head Justice and Human Rights from 1968. She is a socialist parliamentarian and was Minister of Labor and Justice from 2016 to 2020.