Pernando Barrena

Joxe Pernando Barrena Arza (; born 1 November 1965) is a Spanish politician, former member of the Parliament of Navarre and member of the European Parliament for Spain.

Early life Barrena was born on 1 November 1965 in Pamplona, Navarre. His father José María Barrena Inza was a socialist mayor of Berriozar. He has Técnico Superior qualification in international trade and a degree in international relations from UOC.

Career Barrena is a translator by profession and worked at the Txalaparta publishing house in Tafalla translating Basque and English.

Barrena joined Abertzale left (Ezker abertzalea) as a youth.

Barrena was first arrested in 1985 for alleged links to the terrorist organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA).

In 1998, he along with Arnaldo Otegi and Joseba Permach, came to public prominence after the previous leadership of Herri Batasuna (HB) were jailed for alleged links to ETA. He contested the 1999 regional election in Navarre as an Euskal Herritarrok electoral alliance candidate and was elected to the Parliament of Navarre.

In 2001 Barrena became a member of the national executive of the newly formed Batasuna, the successor to HB which had been dissolved. He was the lead candidate at the 2003 regional election in Navarre for the Autodeterminaziorako Bilgunea (AuB) electoral alliance but the Supreme Court annulled the list as it considered AuB to be a successor to Batasuna which had been banned in March 2003. organised a strike in March 2006. All demonstrations were banned by the Basque government. This resulted in clashes between protesters and the Ertzaintza police across the Southern Basque Country. Barrena was released after paying a bail of €200,000, but the charges were ultimately dropped, as no links between the two could be proven. Barrena and Urrutia were arrested on 4 February 2008 on the orders of judge Baltasar Garzón for "supporting the activity of an illegal political party".

Barrena was co-spokesperson for Sortu from 2012 to 2016. He contested the election as an Orain Errepublikak electoral alliance candidate in Spain and was elected to the European Parliament.

He left the European Parliament in September 2022 to enable a member of Galician Nationalist Block to take up the seat but was reelected in 2024, and with an increased share of the alliance's vote coming from the Basque Country he is expected to serve a full term.

Electoral history + Electoral history of Pernando BarrenaElectionConstituencyPartyAllianceNo.Result 1999 regional Navarre Herri Batasuna Euskal Herritarrok 1 Elected 2019 European Spain Euskal Herria Bildu Ahora Repúblicas 2 Elected