Patxi López
Francisco Javier " Patxi " López Álvarez ( born October 4, 1959 in Portugalete, Basque Country ) is a Spanish politician. He is Secretary General of the Partido Socialista de Euskadi - Euskadiko Ezkerra (PSE- EE), the Basque arm of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español ( PSOE), and was Prime Minister from 2009 to 2012 ( Lehendakari ) of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.
Lopez grew up in a socialist- dominated family. His father, Eduardo López Albizu, was a prominent activist of the Spanish left, treasurer of the Basque Socialists. 1975 joined Patxi Lopez at the Basque Young Socialists and was its general secretary from 1985 to 1988. In 1977, he joined the PSE -EE. In 1991 he became a member of the Basque Parliament, 1997, he was elected General Secretary of his party.
From the Basque regional elections in 2001, López advocated a rapprochement of the PSE -EE to the Basque regionalism. He spoke out against the hitherto pursued strategy of an alliance with the conservative Partido Popular (PP ), which profiled themselves as Spanish- nationalist counterpoint to Basque nationalism, and called instead for overcoming the Spanish-Basque identity conflict.
As a result, the PSE -EE in the Basque Country was able to win both at the expense of the PP and the ruling Basque nationalist party PNV votes. 2005 López approached for the PSE -EE in the election for President of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. He lost it against the incumbent Juan José Ibarretxe ( PNV ), but was able to establish the PSE -EE as the strongest opposition party. The following year it during the ( last failed ) negotiations between the Spanish government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE ) and the Basque terrorist group ETA since he in the Basque Country for the PSOE talks with the leaders of forbidden ETA -affiliated played an important role, Batasuna party led.
In the regional elections in March 2009, finally, the PNV was indeed almost the majority of the votes cast of the PSE -EE, but also revealed for the first time a mathematical majority of PSE -EE and PP. López subsequently announced that to strive for a PP- tolerated minority government. This was accepted by the PSOE - tip, even though she feared losing the support of the PNV in the Spanish Parliament in this way. On 5 May 2009 López was elected in the Basque Parliament with the support of the PP to the Basque Prime Minister ( Lehendakari ), thus ending the existing three decades reign of the nationalists. For López voted alongside the PSE -EE and the 13 members of the PP and the only representative of the party Unión Progreso y Democracia ( UPyD ). The swearing-in of López took place on 7 May 2009.
After López had lost the support of the PP in the spring of 2012, he released in the fall of 2012, the Basque regional parliament and new elections convened for 21 October 2012. In this election, again took top candidate of the PSE -EE in López, his party won only 19.1 % of the vote (2009: 30.7 % ) and 16 seats in parliament ( 2009: 25 ).