Izaskun Bilbao Barandica

María Izaskun Bilbao Barandica ( born March 27, 1961 in Bermeo ) is a Spanish politician of the Basque nationalist party PNV and since 2009 a member of the European Parliament. Previously, she was, among other things President of the Basque Parliament.

Bilbao studied law at the University of Deusto and worked from 1996 to 1998 in the Basque Interior and the Ministry of Culture; Also she was a member of the City Council of Bermeo. In 1998 she was elected to the Basque regional parliament, the President, she in 2005 - as a compromise candidate between the ruling PNV and the opposition from Socialists ( PSOE) and conservatives (PP ) - was.

2008 Bilbao was the center of a controversy over the flying of the Spanish flag at the headquarters of the Basque Parliament: Under Spanish law, all state institutions, the regional or local flags must fly, next attach the flag. The Basque Parliament had ignored this law long and hoisted only the Basque regional flag ( Ikurriña ). 2008 the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that the Spanish flag should be attached to the Basque Parliament. Although the PNV been against it to make this judgment result to Bilbao decided to avoid an institutional conflict, and let the flag mount.

After being re-elected in the Basque regional elections in early 2009 again, she was a few months later her seat in Parliament on to compete in the European elections in Spain in 2009 as the second- placed candidate of the list Coalition por Europa, an electoral alliance between the PNV, the Catalan CiU and various other regionalist parties. The list scored exactly two mandates, so Bilbao elected to the European Parliament.