{{short description|Spanish politician (born 1972)}} {{family name hatnote|Maroto|Aranzábal|lang=Spanish}} {{use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Javier Maroto | honorific_suffix = | image = WorldPride_2017_-_Madrid_-_Manifestación_-_170701_172432.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = [[Board of Spokespersons|Spokesperson]] of the [[Parliamentary group (Spain)#Senate|Popular Group]] <br> in the [[Senate of Spain|Senate]] | predecessor = [[Ignacio Cosidó]] | term_start = 30 July 2019 | term_end = | office2 = [[Senate of Spain|Member of the Senate]] | term_start2 = 24 July 2019 | term_end2 = | appointer2 = [[Cortes of Castile and León]] | office3 = Member of the [[Congress of Deputies (Spain)|Congress of Deputies]] | term_start3 = 18 October 2016 | term_end3 = 28 April 2019 | constituency3 = [[Álava (Spanish Congress Electoral District)|Álava]] | office4 = [[Deputy (legislator)|Member]] of the [[Basque Parliament]] | term_start4 = 20 November 2012 | term_end4 = 30 June 2015 | constituency4 = [[Álava]] | office5 = Mayor of [[Vitoria-Gasteiz]] | term_start5 = 11 June 2011 | term_end5 = 13 June 2015 | predecessor5 = [[Patxi Lazcoz]] | successor5 = [[Gorka Urtaran]] | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1972|01|06}} | birth_place = [[Vitoria-Gasteiz]], [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]], [[Spain]] | death_date = | death_place = | birth_name = Javier Ignacio Maroto Aranzábal | party = [[People's Party (Spain)|PP]] | other_party = <!--For additional political affiliations--> | spouse = {{Marriage|José Manuel Rodríguez|2015}} | relations = | children = | alma_mater = [[University of Deusto]]<br>[[University of Navarra]] | profession = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Javier Ignacio Maroto Aranzábal''' is a Spanish politician serving as senator from [[Castile and León]] since 24 July 2019 and [[Board of Spokespersons|Spokesperson]] of the Popular Group in the Senate since 30 July.
He was the [[Vitoria-Gasteiz|Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz]], from 2011 to 2015, the capital city of the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]] and of the province of [[Álava]]. At the same time, he served as member of the [[Basque Parliament]] and in 2016 he was elected [[Member of the Congress of Deputies]] until 2019.
==Biography== Maroto was born in [[Vitoria-Gasteiz]], [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]], on 6 January 1972.
After completing his studies at the [[San Viator]] School in Vitoria-Gasteiz, he studied [[Economics]] and [[Business Administration]] at the [[University of Deusto]] and a master's degree in [[public administration]] and [[management]] from [[IESE]] Business School. He is a [[Popular Party (Spain)|People's Party]] politician in the Basque Country.
In 1999, he took part in the elections for Mayor of Vitoria. After having been a member of [[New Generations of the People's Party of Spain|New Generations of Álava]] and after the victory of the People's Party (PP) in Vitoria, he held the position of [[Deputy Mayor]] and [[Councillor]] for [[Finance]] for the PP from 1999 to 2007. In his two terms under Mayor [[Alfonso Alonso]], he also served as [[Government Spokesman]], president of the municipal company Gilsa, during which he was responsible for the management of industrial land in Vitoria; and Councillor in Charge of [[New Technologies]].
In 2008 Maroto became the [[spokesman]] for the People's Party in Vitoria, and served on the board of the municipal company [[Widening 21]], which was in charge of [[Urbanism|urban expansion]] in Vitoria's new [[Salburua]] and [[Zabalgana]] areas. He was also the secretary of the People's Party in Álava, and one of the few members of the party who have publicly criticized its position on [[gay marriage]]. On November 5, 2010, in an interview with [[Radio Vitoria]], he stated that "it would be a mistake to eliminate the gay marriage bill".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ppvitoria.com/sitio/noticia.asp?id=6837 |work=Populares Vitoria-Gasteiz |title=Javier Maroto: 'Sería un error eliminar la ley de matrimonios homosexuales' |date=5 November 2010 |access-date=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630030505/http://www.ppvitoria.com/sitio/noticia.asp?id=6837 |archive-date=30 June 2012 |language=es |author=Radio Victoria |url-status=dead }}</ref>
On June 23, 2010, Maroto submitted his candidacy for mayor of Vitoria for 2011. He won the election on May 22, 2011, earning a score of 9 seats, and was declared mayor on June 11, 2011.
On May 24, 2015, Maroto's party received the most votes and won 9 seats in the local elections of 2015. However, on June 13, 2015, Gorka Urtaran from the [[Basque Nationalist Party]] was declared mayor after gaining the votes of the councillors of [[Unite (Basque political party)|EH Bildu]], [[Podemos (Spanish political party)|Sumando-Hemen Gaude]] and Irabazi.
On June 18, 2015, he was appointed Sectorial Under-secretary of the People's Party by [[Mariano Rajoy]], becoming a member of the People's Party's national board.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.elcorreo.com/alava/politica/201506/18/rajoy-paso-javier-maroto-20150618175622.html |title="Rajoy premia a Javier Maroto con un puesto en la dirección del PP nacional." |newspaper=[[El Correo]] |date=18 June 2015 |access-date=1 May 2019 |language=es |first=Aitor |last=Alonso |publisher=[[Vocento]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717154507/http://www.elcorreo.com/alava/politica/201506/18/rajoy-paso-javier-maroto-20150618175622.html |archive-date=17 July 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
He lost his seat in [[Congress of Deputies|Congress]] in the [[April 2019 Spanish general election|2019 Spanish general election]], but the [[Cortes of Castile and León]] designated him as senator on 24 July 2019.
==Family life== In June 2015, Maroto announced his engagement to longtime partner José Manuel "Josema" Rodríguez.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.eldiariomontanes.es/sociedad/201506/03/maroto-alcalde-vitoria-casa-20150603004146-v.html |title=Maroto, el alcalde de Vitoria, se casa con su novio |newspaper=[[El Diario Montañés]] |date=3 June 2015 |access-date=1 May 2019 |language=es |publisher=[[Vocento]]}}</ref> The wedding was held on 18 September 2015 at Vitoria's city hall. The wedding gained political significance when it was announced that [[Prime Minister of Spain|Prime Minister]] [[Mariano Rajoy]], who had challenged the law approving same sex marriage when he was Opposition leader, would be attending the wedding as a guest.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.elmundo.es/loc/2015/09/15/55f6da0122601d5e418b4585.html |title=Mariano Rajoy sí irá a la boda de Javier Maroto y su novio 'Josema' |newspaper=[[El Mundo (Spain)|El Mundo]] |date=15 September 2015 |access-date=1 May 2019 |language=es |first=Eduardo |last=Verbo |publisher=[[Unidad Editorial]]}}</ref>
==Awards== During the ceremony for the [[European Green Capital Award]], passed from one Covenant signatory city to another, on November 29, 2012, Maroto gave the floor to [[Patrick Rimbert]], Mayor of [[Nantes]]. Vitoria-Gasteiz was the Green Capital of [[Europe]] in 2012, and Nantes was the Green Capital in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=418 |title=Nantes is the new European Green Capital for 2013 |date=3 December 2012 |access-date=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235747/http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=418 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |work=Eumayors |publisher=Covenant of Mayors Office |agency=[[European Commission]]}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.vitoria-gasteiz.org/we001/was/we001Action.do?idioma=en&accion=home&accionWe001=ficha Vitoria-Gasteiz's Town Hall]
{{Mayors of Vitoria-Gasteiz}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maroto, Javier}} [[Category:1972 births]] [[Category:Spanish gay politicians]] [[Category:Spanish LGBTQ conservatives]] [[Category:LGBTQ legislators in Spain]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Mayors of Vitoria-Gasteiz]] [[Category:Members of the 13th Senate of Spain]] [[Category:Members of the 14th Senate of Spain]] [[Category:Politicians from Vitoria-Gasteiz]] [[Category:People's Party (Spain) politicians]] [[Category:University of Deusto alumni]] [[Category:University of Navarra alumni]] [[Category:Members of the 12th Congress of Deputies (Spain)]] [[Category:Members of the 10th Basque Parliament]]