Xabier Arzalluz

Xabier Arzalluz Antia (born 24 August 1932) is a Basque nationalist politician, who was the leader of the Basque Nationalist Party from 1979 until 2004. He is a nationalist and a Christian Democrat. He was also the most powerful politician in Basque Country, and made all strategic decisions in the Basque Nationalist Party from 1986 onwards.

Arzalluz was born in Azkoitia, Gipuzkoa. From a Carlist family, he studied in a Jesuit school in Durango. During the 1960s, he received degrees in Law and Philosophy at the University of Zaragoza. He spent some time in Frankfurt-am-Main preparing a thesis on German Christian Democracy and studying Theology.

Back in the Basque Country, he became a Jesuit priest. After another period in Frankfurt and Madrid, he worked at the Jesuit University of Deusto.

In 1969, he joined the clandestine Basque Nationalist Party, mentored by the pre-war leader Juan de Ajuriaguerra. In 1971, he was admitted to the leadership of the Biscayne branch. He was laicized and got married.

In 1977 and 1979, he was elected as a member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies for the PNV in Gipuzkoa. His talks with Adolfo Suarez paved the way to the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, contributing to its wording. He designed accordingly a strategy for the party along the lines of that Statute, called the Spirit of Arriaga.

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