Ernest Urtasun

He was a Member of the European Parliament for the Greens/EFA group from 2014 to 2023 and has been Minister of Culture since November 2023. He is named among the possible contenders in the question on the next Prime Minister of Spain, a post for which he had not been named a candidate by 14 October 2026.

Career

Urtasun studied economics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and international relations at the University of Barcelona. He joined the youth wing of the Catalan green left in 1997 and advised the MEP Raül Romeva from 2004 to 2008. He entered Spain's diplomatic service around 2010 and took leave in 2014. He was an MEP from July 2014 to November 2023, first for La Izquierda Plural and then for Catalunya en Comú, and became a vice-president of the Greens/EFA group. He spoke for Initiative for Catalonia Greens from 2016 to 2019. He was Sumar's campaign spokesperson in 2023 and became Minister of Culture on 21 November 2023, succeeding Miquel Iceta.

Positions

Público describes Urtasun as a defender of climate policy and green measures, and as Yolanda Díaz's key reference on international and environmental questions in Sumar. In the 2023 campaign he criticised an Andalusian irrigation law affecting Doñana. Wikipedia reports that as minister he opposes bullfighting, ended the National Tauromachy Award in 2024, and has criticised the colonial framing of state museums. In October 2026, Euronews reports, he rejected Podemos's attempt to shape the candidacy of the new Frente Amplio, a left alliance of Sumar's remnants, Más Madrid, the Comuns and Izquierda Unida.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia (English) · Wikipedia (Spanish) · Euronews (Spanish) · Público

Photo: La Moncloa - Gobierno de España, Attribution, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)