Mr. Oreja has been active in Basque political activities for many years. After graduating in agronomic engineering, he joined the Union de Centro Democrático in 1977 and from 1979 to 1982 represented Guipúzcoa in the Spanish Parliament.

He was elected a member of the Basque Parliament in 1980 and two years later he was appointed as the Government’s Delegate in the Basque Country. In 1989 he joined the newly formed People’s Party and was elected as a deputy in the Congress of Deputies for Vizcaya. The following year he was elected to the National Executive of the People’s Party as the president of the Basque section.

In 1996, he was sworn in as Minister of Interior, a position he held until 2001. He resigned at that time to run, unsuccessfully, for Basque president. Since then he has been the People’s Party parliamentary leader in the Basque Parliament. In 2004, he was chosen to lead the People’s Party list for the European Parliament election and was elected.

Earlier in his career, he escaped injury when a grenade was thrown against his office window.

He was born in 1951 in San Sabastián in the Basque Country of Spain.