Jaime Mayor Oreja (born 12 July 1951) is a former Spanish conservative politician of the People's Party. He served as member of the Basque Parliament, of the Spanish Parliament, and of the European Parliament, as well as being Spanish Minister of the Interior between 1996 and 2000. He is known for his outspoken anti-ETA rhetoric and social ultracatholicism Biography Early life Mayor Oreja was born and raised in San Sebastián, in the Spanish Basque Country, where he attended a school run by Marianists. He earned an agricultural engineering degree and briefly studied law before dropping out to enter politics. Mayor Oreja's family is deeply rooted in conservative Spanish politics. His grandfather Marcelino Oreja Elósegui, a Catholic activist and Carlist politician, was a victim of the Asturian strike action of 1934, and his uncle Marcelino Oreja Aguirre served extensively in the Spanish civil service and in the European Parliament. It was Marcelino Oreja who introduced his nephew to politics. Early career Oreja joined the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) in 1977. After failing to be elected in the first democratic elections to the Cortes Generales since Francisco Franco's death, he won a seat with the UCD in the 1979 elections. Shortly after the elections, he was appointed delegate of the Spanish government to the Basque Government. He was also involved in the drafting of the Basque Statute of Autonomy, serving in the Basque General Council, precursor to the autonomous parliament as a minister for tourism. He left the Cortes Generales in 1982 as the Socialist Party won a majority. He kept his position as delegate of the Spanish government to the Basque Government until 1983, when the UCD began to collapse. He joined the People's Coalition, and stood as their candidate for lehendakari in the 1984 Basque elections. Disagreements within the governing party, the Basque Nationalist Party, a snap election was called in 1986. Mayor Oreja then retired from politics. Return to Politics In 1989, at the request of Manuel Fraga, Mayor Oreja returned to politics to help the newly founded People's Party (PP). He was the party's candidate in the Basque elections of 1990, and managed the European Parliament elections of 1989, where the party made no significant gains or losses. In 1994, the party nearly doubled its seats. Ministerial career After José María Aznar's win in the 1996 Spanish Parliamentary Elections, Mayor Oreja was appointed Minister of the