Ernest Maragall i Mira (; born 5 January 1943, in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

) is a Spanish economist, politician, member of the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia ( ca, Parlament de Catalunya, ; es, Parlamento de Cataluña; oc, Parlament de Catalonha) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 mem ...

and former Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

. He was previously Minister of Education, a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

and a member of

Barcelona City Council The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan: ''Ajuntament de Barcelona''; Spanish: ''Ayuntamiento de Barcelona'') is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In terms of political structure, ...

(BCC). Born in 1943 in

, Maragall joined the anti-fascist

Workers' Front of Catalonia The Workers' Front of Catalonia ( ca, Front Obrer de Catalunya, FOC) was a clandestine political movement in Catalonia, Spain, formed in 1961, and active during the Spanish State of caudillo Francisco Franco. It was the continuation of the Popular ...

as a youth. He worked in advertising and marketing before holding several positions in BCC. A socialist, Maragall was one of the founders of the

Socialist Convergence of Catalonia Socialist Convergence of Catalonia (in Catalan: ''Convèrgencia Socialista de Catalunya'', CSC) was a political party in Catalonia, Spain. CSC was founded in 1974 as from a split of the Socialist Movement of Catalonia (MSC). Its secretary general ...

and its successors, the

Socialist Party of Catalonia–Congress Socialist Party of Catalonia–Congress ( ca, Partit Socialista de Catalunya–Congrés, PSC–C) was a political party in Catalonia, Spain. PSC–C was founded in 1976 as a continuation of Socialist Convergence of Catalonia (CSC). It also unified ...

and Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC). He left the PSC in 2012 due to its opposition to Catalan independence and founded the pro-independence

New Catalan Left New Catalan Left ( ca, Nova Esquerra Catalana, NECat) was a Catalanist and pro-independence political party founded in December 2012 as a split from the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) by Ernest Maragall, brother of former Catalan president P ...

which later merged with others to form the

Left Movement Left Movement ( ca, Moviment d'Esquerres, MES) is a social-democratic, pro-independence political party in Catalonia. The party was founded in November 2014 from the merger of New Catalan Left (NECat) and Catalonia Movement (Moviment Catalunya), ...

. He is currently a member of the

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a Catalan independence movement, pro-Catalan independence, social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Catalonia, p ...

. Maragall was a member of BCC from 1995 to 2004 and held several senior positions in the socialist administration, including that of his brother Pasqual who was

Mayor of Barcelona This is a list of mayors of Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. Wi ...

till 1997. He was elected to the

in November 2003 but resigned upon being appointed secretary of the

regional government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

presided by his brother Pasqual. He was re-elected to the Catalan Parliament in November 2006 but resigned again upon being appointed Minister of Education in the

presided by

José Montilla José Montilla Aguilera (born 15 January 1955 in Iznájar, Andalusia, Spain) is a Spanish politician who is currently a member of the Spanish Senate. He was the 128th President of Generalitat de Catalunya. He became the First Secretary of the ...

. He was re-elected in November 2010 but the socialists lost power to the Convergence and Union and Maragall lost his ministerial post. Maragall was a member of the

from July 2014 to December 2016 and in December 2017 he was re-elected to the Catalan Parliament. In June 2018 he became Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency.

Early life and family

Maragall was born on 5 January 1943 in

. He is the grandson of poet

Joan Maragall Joan Maragall i Gorina (; 10 October 1860 in Barcelona – 20 December 1911) was a Spanish poet, journalist and translator, the foremost member of the ''modernisme'' movement in literature. His manuscripts are preserved in the Joan Maragall ...

, son of

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Jordi Maragall i Noble and brother of Pasqual Maragall,

President of Catalonia The President of the Government of Catalonia ( ca, President de la Generalitat de Catalunya, ) is one of the bodies that the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia stipulates as part of the Generalitat de Catalunya, others being the Parliament, the gov ...

and

. He was educated at Virtene School and was a member of the Agrupament Escolta de la Confraria. He was a member of the

, an underground

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...

against the fascist dictatorship of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

, from its foundation in 1961.

Career

Maragall worked in advertising and marketing from 1958 and 1970. He then held several positions at Barcelona City Council: computer analyst (1970–79); economist at the Technical Project Office; manager of the Institut Cartogràfic de Barcelona S.A.; and director-general of the Municipal Institute of Information Technology.

Politics

Maragall was one of the founders of the

(CSC) in 1974. The CSC merged with other groups in 1976 to form the

(PSC–C), a forerunner to the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC). He was a member of the executive committee of the Barcelona branch of the PSC from 1977 to 2012.

Local politics

Maragall contested the 1995 local elections as a PSC candidate in Barcelona and was elected. He was re-elected at the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

local elections. Maragall was councillor of Finance and Public Function (1995–99) and Presidency and Finance (1999-04). He was spokesperson for the city government led by mayor

Joan Clos Joan Clos i Matheu, GCIH (; born 29 June 1949) is a Spanish politician who was mayor of Barcelona, Spain from September 1997 to September 2006. He took over from Pasqual Maragall in 1997. In 1999 he was elected to a four-year term, and was the ...

from July from 2001 to June 2003. He was president of the District Council of Sant Andreu, Municipal Institute of Informatics and Municipal Institute of Finance, and vice-president of Municipal Institute of Education. He was the city council's representative in the Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia, vice-president of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces' Public Function Commission and vice-president of the Board of Directors of Localret.

Regional politics

Maragall contested the 2003 regional election as a Socialists' Party of Catalonia-

Citizens for Change Citizens for Change ( ca, Ciutadans pel Canvi, CpC) was a political platform in Catalonia created in 1999 to support Pasqual Maragall Pasqual Maragall i Mira (; born 13 January 1941) is a Spanish politician and former List of Presidents of Ca ...

(PSC–CpC) electoral alliance candidate in the

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia ( ca, Parlament de Catalunya, ; es, Parlamento de Cataluña; oc, Parlament de Catalonha) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 mem ...

. He resigned from parliament in January 2004. He was secretary of the

presided by his brother Pasqual from December 2003 to September 2006. Maragall contested the 2006 regional election as a PSC–CpC electoral alliance candidate in the Province of Barcelona and was re-elected. He resigned from parliament in December 2006. He was Minister of Education from November 2006 to November 2010 in the

led by

Maragall contested the 2010 regional election as a PSC candidate in the Province of Barcelona and was re-elected. Maragall supported Catalan independence but the PSC's leadership opposed this and eventually Maragall and others left the party in October 2012 to form the pro-independence

(NECat). He contested the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

The Left for the Right to Decide The Left for the Right to Decide ( ca, L'Esquerra pel Dret a Decidir, EPDD) was an electoral alliance formed for the 2014 European Parliament elections. The leading candidate was Josep Maria Terricabras. The alliance consisted of three parties: ...

(EPDD) electoral alliance candidate and was elected to the

. NECat merged with Moviment Catalunya to form the

(MES) in November 2014. In December 2016, half-way through his term, Maragall resigned from the European Parliament to allow

Jordi Solé i Ferrando Jordi Solé i Ferrando (born 26 October 1976) is a Catalan politician from Spain. Since January 2017, he has served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Re ...

to become an MEP. Maragall contested the 2017 regional election as a Republican Left of Catalonia–Catalonia Yes electoral alliance candidate in the Province of Barcelona and was elected. At the election Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority in the Catalan Parliament. Maragall was touted as a candidate for President of Catalonia. In May 2018 Maragall announced that he had joined the

(ERC). On 19 May 2018 newly elected President

Quim Torra Joaquim Torra i Pla (; born 28 December 1962), known as Quim Torra, is a Catalan lawyer and journalist from Spain. He served as President of the Government of Catalonia from 17 May 2018 to 28 September 2020, when the Supreme Court of Spain conf ...

nominated a new government in which Maragall was to be Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency. He was sworn in on 2 June 2018 at the

Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya The Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya is a historic palace in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It houses the offices of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It is one of the few buildings of medieval origin in Europe that still function ...

. On 22 July 2024, he announced he was leaving ERC because of the "shame and horror" regarding the disclosure of posters mocking his brother Pasqual's

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

during the campaign of the 2023 Barcelona municipal council election as being created within the ERC ranks.

Electoral history

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maragall, Ernest 1943 births Barcelona municipal councillors Education ministers of Catalonia Foreign ministers of Catalonia Living people Members of the 7th Parliament of Catalonia Members of the 8th Parliament of Catalonia Members of the 9th Parliament of Catalonia Members of the 12th Parliament of Catalonia MEPs for Spain 2014–2019 Politicians from Barcelona Republican Left of Catalonia MEPs Socialists' Party of Catalonia politicians Torra Government Barcelona municipal councillors (2019–2023) Barcelona municipal councillors (2023–2027)