Miguel Urbán
{{short description|Spanish activist and politician (born 1980)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Miguel Urbán
| image = (Miguel Urbán) Strasbourg Plenary November 2019 F70A5733-2 (49136576086) (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| office = Member of the European Parliament
| term_start = 5 March 2015
| term_end = 16 July 2024
| constituency = Spain
| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|26 March 1980}}
| birth_place = Madrid, Spain
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Spanish
| party = Podemos (2014–2020)
Anticapitalistas
| alma_mater = Complutense University of Madrid
| occupation = Politician, activist, librarian
}}
Miguel Urbán Crespo ({{IPA|es|miˈɣel uɾˈβan}}; born 26 March 1980) is a Spanish activist and politician. A longstanding figure of the Trotskyist Izquierda Anticapitalista platform (renamed as Anticapitalistas after 2015) and co-founder of Podemos, he served as Member of the European Parliament from 2015 to 2024, integrated within the European United Left–Nordic Green Left political group.
Biography
Born on 26 March 1980 en Madrid,{{Cite web|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/131507/MIGUEL_URBAN+CRESPO/home|publisher=European Parliament|title=Miguel Urbán Crespo|website=www.europarl.europa.eu|date=26 March 1980 }}{{Cite journal|url=https://www.eldiario.es/politica/construir-bloque-cambio-amplio-Europa_0_766423803.html|journal=eldiario.es|title="Hay que construir un bloque del cambio amplio en Europa porque lo que viene es peor que lo visto hasta ahora"|date=2 May 2018|first=Aitor|last=Riveiro}} he is son of Luis Miguel Urbán Fernández, a member of the trotskyist Revolutionary Communist League who suffered torture enacted by Billy el Niño in Francoist Spain.{{Cite web|url=https://www.europapress.es/madrid/noticia-victimas-billy-nino-ellas-padre-eurodiputado-miguel-urban-presentan-tres-querellas-torturas-20190228173503.html|publisher=Europa Press|date=28 February 2019|title=Víctimas de 'Billy el Niño', entre ellas el padre del eurodiputado Miguel Urbán, presentan tres querellas por torturas|website=www.europapress.es}} He studied history at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), although he did not graduate.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cronicapopular.es/2011/10/anticapitalistas-se-presenta-a-las-elecciones-del-20-n/|title=Anticapitalistas se presenta a las elecciones del 20-N|date=17 October 2015|website=www.cronicapopular.es|publisher=Crónica Popular|access-date=12 October 2019|archive-date=15 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815072405/https://www.cronicapopular.es/2011/10/anticapitalistas-se-presenta-a-las-elecciones-del-20-n/|url-status=dead}} Urban worked as librarian in La Marabunta.{{Cite web|website=www.elmundo.es|first=Roberto|last=Bécares|url=http://www.elmundo.es/madrid/2014/05/29/538788a6e2704e7c648b457e.html|title=El Lavapiés de Podemos, del almacén de frutos secos a la cafetería sin Coca-Cola|date=29 May 2014|publisher=El Mundo}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.infolibre.es/noticias/cultura/2015/02/07/mas_que_vender_libros_28013_1026.html|title=Más que vender libros|date=8 February 2015|website=www.infolibre.es|publisher=InfoLibre|first=Eva|last=Orué}}
File:Presentación de PODEMOS (16-01-2014 Madrid) 92.png
He ran in the 20th place of the Anticapitalist Left-Global Revolt list vis-à-vis the 2009 European Parliament election in Spain.{{Smallcaps|Junta Electoral Central}}: {{Cite journal|url=https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2009/05/12/pdfs/BOE-A-2009-7933.pdf|journal=Boletín Oficial del Estado|issue=115|date=12 May 2009|issn=0212-033X|title=Candidaturas proclamadas a las elecciones de Diputados al Parlamento Europeo convocadas por Real Decreto 482/2009, de 3 de abril, a celebrar el 7 de junio de 2009|pages=40777–40828}} He led the trotskyist Anticapitalist Left (IA) list in Madrid to the Congress of Deputies in the 2011 general election.[http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2011/10/25/pdfs/BOE-A-2011-16745.pdf Candidaturas proclamadas para las elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados y al Senado] Boletín Oficial del Estado, 25 de octubre de 2011.
One of the most prominent figures of IA,{{Sfn|Rodríguez López|2016|p=78}} he helped to give form along 2013 through conversations with Pablo Iglesias to the main idea of the project that would become Podemos,{{sfn|Rodríguez López|2016|p=81}} tensions between the anticapitalistas and the UCM lecturers notwithstanding. On 17 January 2014, he was among the partakers of the event at the {{ill|Teatro del Barrio|es}} in Lavapiés that presented the Mover ficha manifesto,{{Sfn|Rodríguez López|2016|pp=78–79}} the foundational text of Podemos.
He was included 7th in the Podemos list for the 2014 European Parliament election.{{aut|Junta Electoral Central}}: {{Cite journal|url=https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2014/04/29/pdfs/BOE-A-2014-4577.pdf|journal=Boletín Oficial del Estado|issue=104|date=29 April 2014|issn=0212-033X|title=Acuerdo de 28 de abril de 2014, de la Junta Electoral Central, de proclamación de candidaturas a las elecciones de Diputados al Parlamento Europeo, convocadas por Real Decreto 213/2014, de 31 de marzo, a celebrar el 25 de mayo de 2014|pages=33409–33471}} Following the renouncements of Carlos Jiménez Villarejo and Teresa Rodríguez to their respective seats,{{Cite web|website=www.eldiario.es|title=El rival de Pablo Iglesias en Madrid toma mañana posesión de su escaño como eurodiputado de Podemos|url=http://www.eldiario.es/politica/Pablo-Iglesias-Madrid-eurodiputado-Podemos_0_362914361.html|date=4 March 2015|publisher=eldiario.es}} Urbán became an MEP on 5 March 2015. He served as member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE; 2015) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET; 2015–2019), as well as in the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union and the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.{{Cite web|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/131507/MIGUEL_URBAN+CRESPO/history/8#mep-card-content|title=Miguel Urbán Crespo. 8th parliamentary term|publisher=European Parliament|website=www.europarl.europa.eu|date=26 March 1980 }}
He ran as a Unidas Podemos Cambiar Europa electoral coalition list candidate for the 2019 European Parliament election in Spain,{{Smallcaps|Junta Electoral Central}}: {{Cite journal|url=https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2019/04/30/pdfs/BOE-A-2019-6475.pdf|journal=Boletín Oficial del Estado|issue=103|date=30 April 2019|issn=0212-033X|title=Resolución de 29 de abril de 2019, de la Presidencia de la Junta Electoral Central, de proclamación de candidaturas a las elecciones de diputados al Parlamento Europeo convocadas por Real Decreto 206/2019, de 1 de abril, a celebrar el 26 de mayo de 2019|pages=46867–46920}} being re-elected to the European Parliament for the 2019–2024 term. He joined the Committee on Development (EVE) and the DROI as well as the Delegation for relations with Mercosur (DMER) and the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (DLAT).
In February 2020, Urbán left Podemos alongside the platform Anticapitalistas, heir to Anticapitalist Left and hitherto integrated within the party.{{Cite news|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20200213/473526358270/miguel-urban-abandona-mantiene-acta-eurodiputado.html|date=13 February 2020|title=Miguel Urbán abandona Podemos pero mantiene su acta como eurodiputado|website=La Vanguardia}}
On 2 March 2022, he was one of 13 MEPs who voted against the resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and for arming Ukraine.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/03/02/meps-were-asked-to-condemn-russia-s-invasion-of-ukraine-13-voted-no-here-s-why|title = We asked 13 MEPs why they voted no to condemn Russia's war in Ukraine|date = 2 March 2022}}
In January 2023, Miguel Urban commented on the ongoing Qatargate scandal, “The Qatargate scandal points to an even deeper Moroccogate affair. The European Parliament should take the same precautionary measures with Morocco as it did with Qatar. Every European Parliament legislative activity in recent years involving Moroccan interests should be retrospectively reviewed to ensure that it has not been influenced by foreign interference.”{{cite web|date=19 January 2023|title=Moroccogate: Human rights are not for sale|url=https://left.eu/moroccogate-human-rights-are-not-for-sale/}}
Works
- {{Cite book|author=Miguel Urbán|author-mask=1|title= El viejo fascismo y la nueva derecha radical|location=Barcelona|publisher=Sylone|year=2014}}{{sfn|Méndez Rubio|2015–2016|p=67}}
- {{Cite book|author=Miguel Urbán|author-mask=1|title=La emergencia de Vox. Apuntes para combatir a la extrema derecha española|year=2020|location=Barcelona|publisher=Sylone}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.eldiario.es/murcia/politica/eurodiputado-Miguel-Urban-Murcia-Vox_0_991101076.html|title=El eurodiputado Miguel Urbán presenta en Murcia 'La emergencia de Vox'|last=eldiariomurcia|website=eldiario.es|date=February 2020|language=es|access-date=2020-02-07}}
References
;Citations
{{reflist}}
;Bibliography
- {{Cite journal|url=http://librepensamiento.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/LP-85-_web.pdf|journal=Libre Pensamiento|year=2015–2016|issn= 1138-1124|first=Antonio|last=Méndez Rubio|title=Fragmentos al azar (Fascista)|location=Madrid|publisher=Confederación General del Trabajo|issue=85|page=67}}
- {{Cite book|title=La política en el ocaso de la clase media. El ciclo 15M-Podemos|first=Emmanuel|last=Rodríguez López|publisher=Traficantes de Sueños|location=Madrid|isbn=978-84-945978-4-8|year=2016|url=https://archive.org/details/2016LaPoliticaEnElOcasoDeLaClaseMedia|url-access=registration}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Current_EP_Spain}}
{{EP Political Group GUE-NGL}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urban, Miguel}}
Category:Podemos (Spanish political party) MEPs
Category:MEPs for Spain 2019–2024
Category:MEPs for Spain 2014–2019