He served as Foral Deputy (regional minister) of Infrastructure and Territorial Development of the Foral Council of Bizkaia from 2023 to 2024, upon stepping down to contest the2024 Basque regional election. He has held the position of Foral Deputy for Economic Promotion (2011-2015), for Economic and Territorial Development (2015-2019) and for Infrastructure and Territorial Development (2019-2023).[2][3][4][5]
Previously, he held the position of managing director of the public talent recruitment agencyBizkaia Talent, attached to the economic promotion department of the Foral Council of Bizkaia between 2007 and 2011.[6][7]
Among the achievements during his time at the Foral Council of Bizkaia, the following stand out, in particular: the creation of theBizkaia Talent agency in 2007 and the creation of theTalentia Network in 2013.[8][9]
Imanol Pradales Gil was born on 21 April 1975 in Mamariga, a neighbourhood ofSanturtzi, to aBasque nationalist family of non-Basque-speakers, the eldest of four children.[10]
Pradales has displayed "having eightCastilian surnames", with his ancestors having immigrated to theBasque Country in the beginning of the twentieth century fromBurgos,Valladolid andCantabria.[11][12] His father, Manuel Pradales, was born inUribarri,Bilbao, and his mother, Rosa Gil, is fromSanturtzi.[13][14][15] Both of his parents joined theBasque Nationalist Party (PNV) the same day in 1976. His father had previously been an underground member of the party during theFrancoist dictatorship, and during theTransition he served as a member of the first Municipal Board of Santurtzi.[14] He owned a garage that closed due to the2008 financial crisis.[16] His mother owned a hairdressing salon that also closed, after which she worked as a cook inbatzokis, the political bars of the PNV.[13] His paternal grandfather fought in theSpanish Civil War on theRepublican side, and was injured on the bombing ofOtxandio.[14][17]
Imanol Pradales (left) gives a press conference on 23 January 2013.
Pradales earned alicentiate in Sociology and Political Science at theUniversity of Deusto in 1997, where he enrolled thanks to the compensation that his grandfather had received for his war service.[14] He later moved toMadrid for a year, where he completed and got a master's degree inknowledge management from theTechnical University of Madrid in 1999. Back inBilbao, between 2000 and 2004 he completed his doctoral studies at theUniversity of Deusto, receiving his doctorate in Sociology and Political Science in 2004. In addition, he completed a postgraduate in Advanced Management in Executive Education at theIE Business School inMadrid in 2010.[21][22][23][24]
He started working there as a university teacher at theUniversity of Deusto, until he was granted a leave of absence upon entering politics in 2007.[25]
In 2005,Iñigo Urkullu, then president of the Biscayne PNV, asked Pradales to write ascholarly paper about employment and competitiveness. In light of his research, in 2007, Pradales was offered to enter politics as theCEO of Bizkaia:xede —later renamedBizkaia Talent— a Biscayne talent recruitment agency.[26][20][25] In 2008, he became one of the coordinators of "Think Gaur", the PNV'sthink tank, following an offer by Urkullu.[25]
Following the2011 Basque foral elections, General Deputy (President) of Biscay José Luis Bilbao appointed Pradales as Foral Deputy (regional minister) of Economic Development of the Foral Council of Bizkaia (Government ofBiscay). From 2015 until his resignation in 2024, he was reappointed in the cabinets of the General Deputies Unai Rementería andElixabete Etxanobe as Foral Deputy of Economic and Territorial Development under the former, and as Foral Deputy of Infrastructure and Territorial Development under the latter.[27] During his tenure, he was the main promoter of the extension of theGuggenheim Museum Bilbao into theUrdaibai estuary.[14][28]
In 2015, Pradales came under criticism after being disclosed that while at office he had bought 7,200 shares of the construction companySacyr, which had been awarded several projects in Bizkaia such as the Autzagane tunnels and theIgorre by-pass.[29] Despite defending that the purchase "was legal and there is no conflict of interest" and ruling out his resignation, he acknowledged that he had made a "mistake" and sold all of his shares in the company.[30][31]
Among the achievements during his time at the Foral Council of Bizkaia, the following stand out, in particular: the creation and launch of theBizkaia Talent agency in 2007, and the creation of theTalentia Network in 2013,[8] an interprofessional talent network, as well such as the expansion of the Network in 2015.[9][32] Both initiatives are framed withintalent management (talent attraction and retention).
Regarding theTalentia Network, launched during his time at the Foral Council of Bizkaia, when it was created in 2013 it had barely 500 members.[8] In 2019, the network had 1,500 members.[33][34] As of December 31, 2021, the network had 2,100 members.[35] All of them were students selected byBizkaia Talent and who had participated in one of the Talentia programmes.[36][37] Curiously, among the members of the Network is the politicianAlba García Martín, candidate for Lendakari and rival of Pradales in the2024 Basque elections, who was selected byBizkaia Talent during her time at the university.[38]
On 25 November 2023, the EAJ-PNV's National Executive Branch (Euzkadi Buru Batzar, EBB) appointed Pradales as the party's candidate for Lehendakari in the2024 Basque regional election, replacing incumbent Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu.[39] The surprising dismissal of the incumbent Lehendakari and the appointment of a low-profile young man were seen as an attempt to promote a generational renewal in the party and to halt the growth ofEH Bildu.[40] He was unanimously ratified as candidate for Lehendakari on 27 January 2024 by the General Assembly of the party and selected as the leading candidate forBiscay.[41][42]
Opinion polls for the election suggested a neck and neck race between the PNV and EH Bildu, with the latter being favoured to become the largest force in theBasque Parliament for the first time ever.[43][44] Initially, the campaign stayed away from national politics andBasque independence, revolving around criticism of the PNV over theprevious government's management ofOsakidetza, the Basque health system, and the housing crisis.[45][46] However, the campaign heated up in its last week following comments from EH Bildu's candidate,Pello Otxandiano, refusing to describeETA as a "terrorist organization," which prompted criticism from the rest of the parties.[47]
On 16 April 2024, Pradales was attacked withpepper spray after attending a campaign rally atBarakaldo while he was heading to an electoral debate organized by theEITB.[48][49] His aggressor, a 49-years-old man, was immediately arrested by theErtzaintza and Pradales was admitted to the Gurutzeta hospital after losing his sight in the left eye. Nonetheless, Pradales eventually took part in the debate, where the attack was condemned by every other candidate.[50][51]
In the election, the PNV won 35.2% of the vote, a decline of 3.7% compared to theprevious election, but narrowly prevailed as the most voted party by almost 30,000 votes. However, the PNV tied at 27 seats with EH Bildu, losing 4 seats.[52][53] TheSocialist Party of the Basque Country–Basque Country Left (PSE–EE) emerged as the kingmaker with 12 seats, making a repetition of the incumbent coalition between the PNV and the PSE–EE the likeliest outcome.[54]
On 22 June 2024, Pradales was sworn in as Lehendakari.[55][56] In 24 June 2024, Pradales formed its Government (Pradales Government). In the distribution of government departments, he assigned the attraction and retention of talent to the lehendakari himself, an area in which Pradales specializes.[57][58][59][60] He also announced that a Basque Talent Strategy was going to be created and developed.[61] In addition, the Lendakari announced the creation and launch of the Basque Talent Agency.[62][59] Similarly, at the end of 2024, it proposed the creation of a Basque talent "roster", a Basque network of highly qualified professionals.[63]
