Julen Bollain
Julen Bollain Urbieta (born 28 March 1990) is a Spanish economist, politician and researcher, specialized in unconditional basic income. He was elected to the Basque Parliament in the 2016 Basque parliamentary election as a candidate of the newly formed coalition Elkarrekin Podemos. Biography. Bollain was born in Eibar on 28 March 1990. He comes from a middle-class family, which has historically been related to Eibar's industry. Academic career. Bollain did his bachelor's degree in Business administration and Management at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao and at the University of Saint Louis, Brussels . After completing his degree, he earned a master's degree in International Management and International Relations at Oxford Brookes University (England). The year after finishing his stay in Oxford, he obtained the Goethe-Zertifikat of German by the Goethe Institute, speaking fluently Basque, Spanish, English, French and German. He is currently doing a PhD program in Development Studies about unconditional basic income under the direction of Daniel Raventós. Bollain is a board member of the Red Renta Básica and a lifetime member of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). He gives talks, trainings and attends both national and international conferences  and congresses. Bollain also writes frequently articles (mostly in the republican and socialist journal Sin Permiso) and teaches in the postgraduate program in Analysis of Capitalism and Transformative Policies, interuniversity studies between the University of Barcelona and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Professional career. Once finished the master's degree and thus ending his stay in Oxford in September 2013, Bollain began his professional career in a private enterprise. He worked for two years as export area manager in the Metallurgical sector. Political trajectory. Bollain took part in the 15-M Movement first in Spain and afterwards in Belgium. He  participated in the assemblies held in Bilbao in 2011, and welcomed in Brussels the Marches to Brussels on 8 October 2011. He has been taking part in Podemos from the beginning and was elected General Secretary of Podemos in Eibar on 2 January 2015 after being voted by the militancy with the 55% of the votes. Bollain was presented to the autonomous elections of the Basque Country in 2016 by Elkarrekin Podemos, obtaining the act of parliamentary on 21 October 2016. He became the youngest parliamentary of the XI legislature. He is currently the economic spokesman of the coalition and  the chairman of the Health Commission of the Basque Parliament.