Politicians and Public Officials

Pujana Arza, Juan José

Political personality born in Bilbao on January 13, 1943. He died in Elorrio on February 2, 2022.

Coming from a family in the Arratia Valley, he studied Economic Law at the University of Deusto. It was in his office in Bilbao that many clandestine and transitional meetings of the PNV leadership were held. Secretary General of the EBB upon the death of dictator Franco, he was one of the PNV's emissaries at the meetings at the Hotel Chiberta (Bayonne) in the French Basque Country April and May 1977, aimed at forming a failed nationalist front against the reform, since the PNV participated in the 1977 elections.

Pujana replaced the late Juan de Ajuriaguerra as Minister of Territorial Planning, Urbanism and Environment of the Basque General Council August 1978 and April 1980, when, following the regional elections there, he was elected by Bizkaia, being elected as the first President of the Basque Parliament, a position he held until September 1986, although he was a parliamentarian until 1990. March 1987 and February 1991 he was a Senator representing the Basque Parliament.

In 1986 he joined the Mixed Group in the Basque Parliament, having been one of the founders of Eusko Alkartasuna in September of that year.

His activity in the Basque Parliament was fundamental since he laid the foundations for its functioning and regulations, since we must not forget that it was a new body and there was no parliamentary experience after the Dictatorship.

In the Senate, during the Third Legislature, he was a member of the Permanent Deputation (1988-1989), spokesperson for the Mixed Parliamentary Group, and member of committees such as Foreign Affairs and the Constitution. In the Fourth Legislature, he was spokesperson for the Committee on Autonomies and Territorial Organization, the Committee on Justice, and the Committee on Relations with the Ombudsman and Human Rights. Among his amendments, the seven he presented to the draft Law on demarcation and the judicial stand out.

Retired from active politics, although he remained linked to EA, of which he was a member of the National Assembly, since 1991 he has dedicated himself to law and his interest in literature and Greek.

In 2005 he was appointed general coordinator of the Higher Center of Music of the Basque Country (Musikene), a position he held until 2009. In that year he left EA as a protest against its withdrawal from the coalition with the PNV.

Once retired, he moved to Elorrio , his wife's town, where he dedicated himself to his hobbies and, on the side, to politics, being a candidate for the PNV in the 2011 municipal elections in the town.

He is a member of the Bizkaia commission of the RSVAP

Works:

  1. Basque Fabulists of the 18th and 19th Centuries , Ephialte, Vitoria-Gasteiz 1995.
  2. The humanities in society from the perspective of Hellenistic culture . Bilbao, Bizkaia Commission of the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country, 2001.
  3. Translator of Plato's Republic into Basque.
  • BARBER A, Jos Luis. "The lineage of L pez", El País , 15-02-2009.
  • Journal of Sessions of the Parliament of Navarre. [Accessed 20-12-2012]
  • Journal of Sessions of the Basque Parliament. [Accessed 20-12-2012]
  • Congressional Session Journal [Date of consultation: 20-12-2012]
  • Senate Session Journal. [Accessed 20-12-2012]
  • EGUIGUREN IMAZ, Jes s. History of Basque Socialism (1886-2009) . San Sebastián: Hiria, 2009.
  • GUIM N, Julen. Euskadi and the Transition. A narrative in progress . Bilbao: Burguete, 1996.
  • HUNEEUS, Carlos. The Democratic Center Union and the Transition to Democracy in Spain . "Monographs" Collection. Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno, 1985.
  • MICCICH, Andrea. Socialist Euskadi. The PSE-PSOE and the Transition in the Basque Country (1976-1980) . Madrid: Pablo Iglesias, 2009.
  • SAINZ MORENO, Fernando, HERRERO DE PADURA, Mercedes, ed. Spanish Constitution. Parliamentary Works . 4 vols. Madrid: Cortes Generales, 1989.
  • UGARTE TELLER A, Javier, coord. The transition in the Basque Country and Spain: history and memory , Leioa: University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, 1998.