Javier Lasagabaster Etxarri
1933–2026Basque lawyer and politician who served as counselor of Territorial Policy and Public Works in the first democratic Basque Government (1980-1984).
Particulars
Javier Lasagabaster Etxarri was a Basque lawyer and politician who served as counselor (consejero) of Territorial Policy and Public Works in the first Basque Government presided by Carlos Garaikoetxea between 1980 and 1984. He was one of the last surviving members of that first democratic Basque executive established after the Franco dictatorship.
Born in Pasaia in 1933 and a resident of Irun (Gipuzkoa), Lasagabaster was a lawyer by profession and also worked at the Banco Vizcaya in San Sebastián. He represented the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) in the regional government before the party's split in 1986.
He was remembered as the "father of the bidegorris" (bike lanes), a term he coined after visiting a city in the United Kingdom. In June 2025 he took part in the Basque Government's tribute to Garaikoetxea alongside fellow surviving members Pedro Miguel Etxenike and Pedro Luis Uriarte.
His daughter Begoña Lasagabaster followed in his footsteps, becoming a lawyer and serving as a deputy in the Spanish Congress for Gipuzkoa for three terms representing Eusko Alkartasuna.
Compiled from source reports. Automated record.