Ernest Benach i Pasqual (; born

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is kno ...

Baix Camp Baix Camp () is a comarca of Catalonia. It is one of the three comarques into which Camp de Tarragona was divided in the comarcal division of 1936. Baix Camp is located on the coast, between Tarragonès to the northeast and Baix Ebre to the sout ...

, 12 November 1959) was the President of the

Catalan Parliament 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 ...

from 2003 to 2010. He is a member of the Catalan independentist party

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 ...

(ERC).

Education and professional background

Benach worked for the Catalan Generalitat as a sweeper after he left university. He has also co-written ''República catalana'' (''Catalan Republic'') and ''Educar en política'' (''Teaching in politics'').

Civic background

Head of the La Mulassa, a Boy Scout association of

(1981–1986) and president (1991–1994) and ''cap de colla'' (head of group) of the ''Colla castellera Xiquets de Reus'' (an association of

castellers A ''castell'' () is a human tower built traditionally at festivals in Catalonia, the Balearic islands and the Valencian Community. At these festivals, several ''colles castelleres'' (teams that build towers) attempt to build and dismantle a ...

), he is also a member of the

Pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

section of the Reading Center of Reus.

Political background

He was member of Left Nationalists ( NE) from 1979 to 1986. In 1987 he joined the ERC, where he served as general vice-secretary of institutional politics.

Institutional background

He has been a deputy in the

since 1992, where he served as second secretary of the board (1999–2003) and president. He was also president of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies from October 2004 to October 2005. He was also a member of the city council of

, the city where he was born, from 1987 to 2001, where he held several positions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benach I Pasqual, Ernest 1959 births Spanish municipal councillors Living people Members of the Parliament of Catalonia Presidents of the Parliament of Catalonia Republican Left of Catalonia politicians Second Secretaries of the Parliament of Catalonia