Javier Arenas Bocanegra (born in Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 on 28 December 1957) is a Spanish politician. Although born in Seville, he was raised in Olvera

Olvera

Olvera is a city located in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain. According to the 2005 census, the city has a population of 8,585 inhabitants.- Overview :...

, hometown of his parents. He is married with two children, graduated in law and has a MA

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in Business Management.

Political career

He joined the Union of the Democratic Centre in the early 1980s and was President of Juventudes Centristas (Centrist Youth), the UCD youth organization. He was Deputy Mayor

Deputy Mayor

Deputy mayor is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official in many local governments. Many elected deputy mayors are members of the city council who are given the title and serve as acting mayor in the mayor's absence...

 of Seville between 1983 and 1987 and was a member of the Parliament of Andalusia

Parliament of Andalusia

The Andalusian Parliament is the legislature of the Spanish Autonomous Community of Andalusia instituted by the Andalusian Charter of Autonomy of 1981. It is elected by the residents in Andalusia every four years...

 from 1986 until 1989 in which he served as Vice President of the Commission of Justice and Government. He served as a member of Congress from 1989 to 1994 and from 2000 to 2008 as deputy for Seville

Sevilla (Spanish Congress Electoral District)

Seville is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. It was first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election. It is the fourth largest district in terms of electorate...

 and represented the same province in the Spanish Senate

Spanish Senate

The Senate of Spain is the upper house of Spain's parliament, the . It is made up of 264 members: 208 elected by popular vote, and 56 appointed by the regional legislatures. All senators serve four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time.The last election...

 from 1994 to 2000. He was Vice-secretary general of the People's Party

People's Party (Spain)

The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

 (Partido Popular, PP) between 1991 and 1993.

Between July 1993 and 1999, he was President of the PP in Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...

  and resumed the role in 2004. He was Employment Minister between 1996 and 1999, Secretary General of the People's Party between 1999 and 2003 and Minister of Public Administration between 2002 and 2003. During his spell as Second Vice-president and Minister of the Presidency between September 2003 and April 2004 one of the major pieces of legislation that he was responsible for was the Pact for Liberties and Anti-Terrorism in 2000, a bipartisan agreement between the PP and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

 (PSOE), signed by both President José María Aznar

José María Aznar

José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...

 and the then Leader of the Opposition Zapatero.

At the present time, he is spokesman

Spokesman

A spokesperson or spokesman or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others.In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have received formal training in journalism, communications, public relations and...

 for the Popular group in the Andalusian Parliament and Senator representing the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. He is known to be a leading moderate member of the party and associated with the Christian-Democratic sector of the Party. He was the President of the National Electoral Committee of the PP in 2008.