Juan José Ibarretxe

Juan José Ibarretxe Markuartu (born March 15, 1957) is a Basque politician of Spain. A leading member of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), he was President (lehendakari) of Spain's Basque Country autonomous community from January 2, 1999 to May 7, 2009.

He was born in Llodio in the province of Álava, and holds a degree in Economics from the University of the Basque Country. In 1983 he was elected a member of the Basque Parliament for Álava, representing the PNV, and from then on rose steadily to prominence. From 1986-1990 and 1991-1994 he was the President of the PNV Economic and Budgetary Commission. On January 4, 1995 then Basque President José Antonio Ardanza appointed him Vice President.

On March 28, 1998 he was nominated PNV presidential candidate to compete in the October 25 Basque election, and became lehendakari (president) on January 2, 1999. In October 2003 he released the highly controversial Ibarretxe Plan (Plan Ibarretxe), which foresees a future Basque country freely associated with Spain, with its own separate legal system and European Union (EU) representation.

Ibarretxe grew up speaking only Spanish, but now speaks fluent Basque and English. He is an avid cycling fan and has presided over a cycling club in Llodio. He is married to Begoña Arregui, with whom he has two children. He is a non-practising Roman Catholic.