Juan Manuel Eguiagaray: Socialist politician, economist, navigator and good man | Economy | EUROtoday

A reasonable and conciliatory socialist politician died; a public servant; a solvent and reflective economist, with strong authorized formation; a really dependable individual; A practising Catholic, dedicated to democracy, progress and social justice, and, as well as, an excellent and affectionate man.

He was born in Bilbao in 1945. He studied on the Commercial University of Deusto, the place he was later my professor, and accomplished his coaching on the University of Nancy. He quickly turned his intelligence, his humanity and his will to service in politics, becoming a member of the Euskadi Socialist Party (PSE). He held related positions through the years of the transition and growth of the state of autonomies: he was a councilor in Bilbao, spokesman for the Socialist Group within the Basque Parliament, Deputy Secretary General of the PSE, Government Delegate in Euskadi and Murcia, and Minister of Public Administrations and Industry and Energy in Governments of Felipe González between 1991 and 1996.

It was a privileged, and really constructive interlocutor, of the governments of Spain and Euskadi within the restoration of the financial live performance, and had a number one position within the negotiation of the primary PSE-PNV coalition authorities, though he determined to remain within the occasion as Deputy Secretary General of the PSE.

Due to his solvency and reliability, he was appointed interlocutor by the Government of Spain within the failed Algiers of 1988, by which ETA wasted the chance to save lots of us a variety of struggling and plenty of victims, amongst others, our frequent buddy Fernando Buesa. It was a agency voice in favor of peace in Euskadi and the battle towards terrorism, all the time from dialogue, democratic legality and hope in a doable coexistence. It contributed to laying the foundations of a extra simply and reconciled society, with out ever giving up the reality and the dignity of the victims.

He by no means needed to undergo authorities duties with out leaving his mark, both within the modernization of public administrations, within the consensual growth of the regional State, or within the liberalization of the vitality sector. It was, in truth, the creator of the primary unbiased regulator of the vitality sector, the National Electrical System Commission, antecedent of the National Energy Commission, and the present CNMC.

At the top of the nineties he was a spokesman for the Socialist Group in Congress. It wouldn’t have been a politician for these instances. He was not in his DNA. He lacked acrimony, aggressiveness, Manichaeism, polarizing intuition. He was as agency in his values, as respectful of others.

His legacy, nevertheless, goes far past his institutional profession. Eguiagaray was in the beginning an full individual, guided by agency values, impregnated along with his socialist dedication and his Catholic religion – equality, inclusion and honesty – who marked their private and non-private life. He by no means allowed his non secular convictions to cease his dedication to advances in rights and freedoms.

Those of us who’ve handled him will remind you as affable, reflective, enjoyable and beneficiant. He had the power to hear fastidiously, dialogue with respect and argue calmly. No surprise many aged mates known as him equanimous. It was for me an admired, tempered instructor, a detailed mentor and an moral reference.

His nice ardour, along with his household, was navigation, inherited from his marine father: he crossed the Atlantic in a number of journeys, which he later documented with care and shared along with his mates. He devoted himself with ardour to the group of the return to the world on the event of the five hundredth anniversary of the journey of Juan Sebastián Elcano. He loved gathering mates at house, cooking for them and lengthening the intermells with serene conversations. It was shut, detailed. Paz transmitted.

Convinced that social justice doesn’t finish at borders, Juanma Eguiagaray additionally devoted effort and time to worldwide cooperation. He presided over the International Solidarity Foundation and Alliance for Solidarity, selling human rights, gender equality and sustainable growth. His involvement was lively and coherent: he understood solidarity as a type of everlasting dedication to those that want it most.

Those of us who’ve handled him within the PSOE, within the college or in his each day life we ​​agree {that a} reference has been left, an exemplary public servant, a politician with vocation, solvency and honesty … and, above all, a terrific individual. Spain loses a state man; His household, his mates and people who deal with him, to somebody whose solely presence provided serenity.

I’ve lived with emotion the love with which his spouse, Marisa, and his son, Ander, have accompanied and spoiled the final fifteen months. He deserved it, and I’m positive they have not disillusioned him.