Alberto Fernández Díaz (born 12 December 1961) is a Spanish former politician of the People's Party (PP). He was a member of the

City Council of Barcelona The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Ajuntament de Barcelona''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Ayuntamiento de Barcelona'') is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the Barcelona, municipality of Barcelona, Catal ...

from 1987 to 1999 and again from 2003 to 2019, and led his party in the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...

between his two mandates.

Biography

Fernández Díaz was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

as the eighth of ten children to a military father. His older brother Jorge was also a People's Party politician who served as

minister of the interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 2011 to 2016. Fernández Díaz graduated in law from the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

in 1986 and practiced as a lawyer until 1996. In 1980, Fernández Díaz joined the

People's Party of Catalonia The People's Party of Catalonia (, , PP or PPC) is a conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Catalonia. It is the Catalan affiliate of the Spanish People's Party and holds strongly unionist positions.City Council of Barcelona The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Ajuntament de Barcelona''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Ayuntamiento de Barcelona'') is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the Barcelona, municipality of Barcelona, Catal ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

for the then

People's Alliance People's Alliance may refer to: * People's Alliance ( ''Volksunie''), Belgian political party which split in 2001 into the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie and Spirit * People's Alliance (Bulgaria), a Bulgarian party from 1921 to 1923 * People's Alliance ( ...

(AP). He was the party's lead candidate in the

1999 Catalan regional election The 1999 Catalan regional election was held on Sunday, 17 October 1999, to elect the 6th Parliament of Catalonia, Parliament of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for ele ...

, in which he accused incumbent

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Jordi Pujol Jordi Pujol i Soley (, born 9 June 1930) is a retired Catalan politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 to 2003. Early life ...

of extreme

Catalan nationalism Catalan nationalism promotes the idea that the Catalan people form a distinct nation and national identity. A related term is Catalanism (, ), which is more related to Regionalism (politics), regionalism and tends to have a wider meaning, most pe ...

. He was congratulated by the party's national secretary general Javier Arenas for promoting bilingualism by challenging Pujol in Spanish on the

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

television channel

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. The party fell by five seats to 12 and lost 125,000 votes compared to its

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

result. Nonetheless, the PP gave

confidence and supply In parliamentary system, parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government (one which does not control a majority in the legislature) receives the support of one ...

in order to allow Pujol's right-leaning

Convergence and Union Convergence and Union (, CiU; ) was a Catalan nationalist electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. It was a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller counterpart, the Democratic ...

(CiU) to govern. Fernández Díaz returned to municipal politics in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

as the PP candidate for

mayor of Barcelona This is a list of mayors of Barcelona since 1835. The Mayor of Barcelona is the highest political authority of the City Council of Barcelona, Barcelona City Council. In accordance with Organic Law 5/1985, of June 19, on the General Electoral Regi ...

. He was assaulted in

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during the campaign, by demonstrators angry with his party's involvement in the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. He was a candidate again in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and 2011, achieving the party's best-ever result of nine seats in the latter. This figure rose from an initial eight due to an appeal to the

Supreme Court of Spain The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the Supreme court, highest court in the Spain, Kingdom of Spain. The court has original jurisdiction over cases against high-ranking officials of the Kingdom and over cases regarding the legalization of political p ...

and the

Constitutional Court of Spain The Constitutional Court () is the supreme interpreter of the Spanish Constitution, with the power to determine the constitutionality of acts and statutes made by any public body, central, regional, or local in Spain. It is defined in Part I ...

over 57 voting forms previously counted as

spoilt vote In voting, a ballot is considered spoilt (chiefly British), spoiled (chiefly American), void, null, informal, invalid, rejected or stray if a law declares or an election authority determines that it is invalid and thus not included in the Vote ...

s. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the party fell to three seats on the council while

Citizens Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality; ...

grew. In December 2018, with opinion polling suggesting that the PP could be wiped off the council, he announced that he would not stand again next year. Fernández Díaz married in 1992 and had three children as of 2018. A motorcycle enthusiast, he unsuccessfully proposed allowing the vehicle to use Barcelona's cycle lanes. A fan of

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

, he called out the local public television channel Betevé in 2019 for a programme attacking the club's fans as drug addicts and thieves. The show was eventually withdrawn from broadcasting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez Diaz, Alberto 1961 births University of Barcelona alumni 20th-century Spanish lawyers People's Alliance (Spain) politicians People's Party (Spain) politicians Barcelona municipal councillors (2011–2015) Barcelona municipal councillors (2015–2019) Members of the 6th Parliament of Catalonia Living people Politicians from Barcelona