In 1980, while studying for the Diplomatic School, the separatist group ETA assassinated his father's associate Enrique Aresti Urien and so Fernando had to return to Bilbao to help with the family business, the insurer named "La Union y el Fenix".

Since then, he became the Territorial Council spokesman of the party in the Basque Country, the coordinator of the international area and a member of the Board of Directors until August 2014.

He was also one of six vice-presidents of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE), under the leadership of chairman Guy Verhofstadt.

In 2015, Maura and Dita Charanzová nominated the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), a Venezuelan election coalition formed to unify the opposition to president Hugo Chávez, for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

[2] In addition to his role in parliament, Maura has been serving as member of the Spanish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since late 2016.