Senator. Born in Bilbao on 14 December 1943. Basque MP and senator, she was one of the first women members of the Basque Parliament in its first legislature.
Inmaculada Boneta Piedra was born in Bilbao on 14 December 1943. During her youth she studied music and obtained a higher degree in piano at the age of fourteen. She studied law at the University of Deusto and graduated in 1964 from the University of Deusto and the University of Valladolid. Boneta belonged to the first graduating class of the Faculty of Law that allowed access to women, making her one of the first four women to graduate in law from the University of Deusto.
Once she had finished her university studies, she moved to Catalonia where she worked as an assistant manager in a company in Sabadell for two years. After this period in Catalonia, Inmaculada Boneta decided to return to the Basque Country in 1967. Once she had settled in Bilbao again, in 1969, she passed the competitive examination for a General Administration Technician at the Bilbao City Council. She joined the Bilbao City Council during the mandate of Javier Ybarra Bergué, although she took up her post when Pilar Careaga was already Mayoress of Bilbao. Inmaculada Boneta, during her long career in the Bilbao City Council, was in charge of tasks related to education and culture as well as social assistance. During Pilar Careaga's term of office, Boneta was responsible for culture in the Bilbao City Council and she managed to obtain the first grant for Euskaltzandia.
Inmaculada Boneta comes from a family with a nationalist political affiliation, so it is not surprising that in 1976, during the beginning of the political opening of Spain and the Basque Country, Boneta began her approach to politics. His first formal contacts with the nationalist world came about as a result of the creation of the Lauro ikastola, in which he participated as a cooperative member, and in support of the movement to create ikastolas. Boneta attended the first PNV assembly held on 1 January 1977 in Pamplona.
Her political career began in the general elections of 1978 when she stood as a candidate for the Basque Nationalist Party for the Congress of Deputies. Inmaculada Boneta ran as number six on the nationalist list, which is why she did not win the seat in this first legislature.
During the period of the Basque General Council, Inmaculada Boneta collaborated with the Minister of Education Carlos Santamaría in the work of structuring education in the Basque Country.
In 1980 she was elected as a member of parliament for the PNV during the 1st Legislature of the Basque Parliament (31-03-1980/19-01-1984). She was one of the five women elected to parliament in these first Basque elections. The other four, three of them members of the Basque Nationalist Party and one of Herri Batasuna, were: Ana Bereciartua Arriaran, Miren Begoña Amunarriz Olano, Itziar Aizpurua and Maite Olazagoitia López de Luzuriaga. During this first legislature, she was a member of seven parliamentary committees. She was proposed by Lehendakari Leizaola to the party as first vice-president of the Basque Parliamentary Bureau, a position she held throughout the first Legislature. At the time of the creation of the Basque Parliament and institutions, Boneta made important contributions both in the field of education and culture and in the field of legislation.
Thus, Inmaculada Boneta was rapporteur for Law 10/82 on the Normalisation of the Use of the Basque Language, a law that promoted the knowledge and use of the Basque language in the fundamental areas of Basque society.
During the 2nd Legislature, Inmaculada Boneta was once again elected as a member of parliament for the PNV. Internal tensions within the Basque Nationalist Party finally led to its split and the creation of Eusko Alkartasuna by Carlos Garaikoetxea. Inmaculada Boneta, having a "different conception of the model of the country" proposed by the Basque Nationalist Party, decided to join Garaikoetxea's proposal. The MPs, including Boneta, who joined Carlos Garaikoetxea became part of the Mixed Group until the end of the legislature (01-10-1986).
In the 3rd Legislature (08-01-1987/03-09-1990) Inmaculada Boneta was elected as a member of Parliament for Eusko Alkartasuna. During this legislature Boneta sat on four parliamentary committees. She continued her career by sitting on the Education and Culture Committee as well as on legislative committees. During the same legislature, on 23 October 1987, the Euzkadiko Ezkerra member of parliament, Koro Garmendia, announced her intention to formulate a bill on the creation of the Basque Women's Institute.
The proposal of the EE MP was seconded by the other Basque women MPs, including Inmaculada Boneta. For all these reasons, a working group was set up to draft the law jointly made up of all the Basque women MPs. On 5 February 1988, the Basque Parliament passed Law 2/1988 creating the Basque Women's Institute/Emakumearen Euskal Erakundea as an autonomous administrative body attached to the Presidency or Lehendakaritza with the aim of "achieving real and effective equality men and women in all areas of political, economic, cultural and social life in the Basque Country".
At the end of the 3rd Legislature, Inmaculada Boneta returned to her post in Bilbao City Council in the Department of Education and later in the Department of Social Action.
In 1994 she was proposed as a regional senator for Eusko Alkartasuna. On 10 February 1995 she was appointed senator by the Basque Parliament and became a member of the Mixed Group in the Senate as a representative of EA. During her first legislature as a senator, Boneta participated as a member of six committees and was a rapporteur on four occasions. The Basque senator's interventions during this legislature were numerous, as was the subject matter of her speeches. We will highlight the speeches related to the European Union and its impact on the autonomous regions. On 20 March 1996, she left the Senate.
In the VI Legislature she was again elected as a senator representing the Basque Country. On 27 March 1996, Inmaculada Boneta opened the sixth legislature as President of the Senate Preparatory Board. Thanks to the fact that the Senate's regulations allow the use of the official languages of the autonomous regions during formal sessions, Senator Boneta opened the Senate's legislature in Basque. The opening sentence was: "Jaun eta andra Senatore txit gorenok: saio hau, hasten dela adierazten dut". This legislature, together with the seventh, was undoubtedly where Inmaculada Boneta's participation in the Senate reached its highest levels. During most of her time in the Senate, she was spokesperson for the Mixed Parliamentary Group and substitute member of the Senate's Permanent Deputation. He was a member of a total of sixteen committees and rapporteur on seven reports, three of which were of a legislative nature. The issues dealt with by Boneta during this legislature were quite heterogeneous, although those related to education and culture as well as those related to gender issues should be highlighted.
Senator Boneta was awarded a prize by the Association of Parliamentary Journalists. Thus, in 1997 she was awarded the Salmerón prize (to the most combative senator) in recognition of her work in the Senate.
Inmaculada Boneta returned to the Senate on 24 October 2001 and remained a senator until 12 November 2003. In these two years Senator Boneta was spokesperson of the mixed group for four months and participated in a total of twenty-nine committees. Boneta's interventions during this legislature focused on education and gender issues, although the bulk of her work was in legislative work, which resulted in a total of ten reports.
On 12 November 2003, she resigned as a senator and rejoined Bilbao City Council, in the area of Social Action. In 2005 she was appointed Director of the Department of Education, Youth and Sport, a post she held until July 2007, when she retired.
Inmaculada Boneta is currently retired from political life. She recently resigned as a member of the Eusko Alkartasuna party and publicly supported the candidacy of Iñigo Urkullu as Lehendakari in the elections to the Basque Parliament in October 2012.
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