Inés Arrimadas

Inés Arrimadas García (Spanish: [iˈnes ariˈmaðas]; born 3 July 1981) is a Spanish lawyer and former politician who served as Member of the Congress of Deputies and Spokesperson of Citizens party in the Congress. She was previously the leader of the regional branch of the party in Catalonia. In March 2020, she was voted party leader.

Arrimadas was born and raised in Jerez de la Frontera. Before entering in politics she worked as a consultant. She became a member of the party in 2011 and she first started being the spokesperson of the youth section. She became an MP of the Catalan parliament after the 2012 election. She was the Leader of the Opposition in the Catalan Parliament from 2015 to 2019.

Early life and career

Arrimadas is the youngest of five children born to Rufino Arrimadas García and Inés García López, both of whom came from Salmoral in the Province of Salamanca. She moved to Barcelona in 2008.

Arrimadas studied at the Catholic school Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Jerez de la Frontera. She became interested in Catalonia as a result of being a fan of FC Barcelona which led her to take Catalan lessons from a Catalan classmate while she was in 7th and 8th grade, during which she learnt the club anthem. When she moved to Barcelona, the company she worked for, Daleph, paid her formal Catalan language classes to obtain the C1 level. Arrimadas is fluent in Spanish, Catalan, English, and French.

At age 18, Arrimadas began studying law at Pablo de Olavide University. She also undertook postgraduate studies in international business at IPAG Business School in Nice organised through the Erasmus programme.