Bernat Solé i Barril (born 30 January 1975) is a Spanish industrial engineer and politician from

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, member of 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 ...

and Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency of

between 2020 and 2021. He was previously mayor of

Agramunt Agramunt () is a municipality (''municipi'') in the ''comarca'' of the Urgell in Catalonia. It is situated in the north of the ''comarca'', near the border with the Noguera. It has a population of . The town centre is protected as a historic-art ...

. He is currently awaiting trial on charges of disobedience for his role in the Catalan declaration of independence.

Early life

Solé was born on 30 January 1975 in

. He has a degree in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

Career

Solé is an industrial engineer by profession. He has worked as an engineer in the private sector and has taught technology in schools. Solé has been a member of

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia (, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also in Valencia, the Balearic Islands and t ...

(ERC) since 2006. He was communication secretary for ERC's

Urgell Urgell (), also known as ''Baix Urgell'' (''baix'' meaning "lower", by contrast with Alt Urgell "Upper Urgell"), is a ''comarca'' (county) in Ponent, Catalonia (Spain), forming only a borderland portion of the region historically known as Urgel ...

county branch from 2006 to 2008. He has been a member of ERC's national executive since 2015. At the 2006 regional election he was placed 12th on ERC's list of candidates in the

Province of Lleida The Province of Lleida (; ; ) is one of the four provinces of Catalonia. It lies in northeastern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Catalonia, and is bordered by the provinces of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Zarag ...

but the party only won three seats in the province and as a result he failed to get elected. Solé contested the 2007 local elections as a Republican Left of Catalonia-Acord Municipal (ERC-AM)

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

candidate in Agramunt and was elected. He was re-elected at the 2011 local elections and became mayor of Agramunt. He was re-elected at the

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 ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

local elections. Solé contested the 2015 regional election as a Junts pel Sí (JxSí) electoral alliance candidate in the Province of Lleida and was elected to the

. He was re-elected at the 2017 regional election. He became deputy spokesperson for the Republican

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

in Parliament in May 2019 following Gerard Gómez's election to the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

. In May 2019 the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) summoned Solé to appear before the court on 4 June 2019 to be interrogated about charges of disobedience in relation to his role in the conduct of the

2017 Catalan independence referendum An independence referendum was held on 1 October 2017 in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, passed by the Parliament of Catalonia as the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia and called by the Generalitat de Catalun ...

. At the interrogation Solé rejected the charges of disobedience, stating that as mayor he did not promote the referendum and that he was merely expressing his political opinions. In October 2019 TSJC judge Mercedes Armas found evidence of Solé committing disobedience, closed the investigation against him and requested that an oral trial begins. The TSJC dismissed an appeal by Solé in January 2020 and ordered that he be tried for disobedience for facilitating the referendum in Agramunt, allowing the use of public premises and hiding ballot boxes. Solé could be disqualified from holding public office for one and a half years and fined €24,000 if found guilty. In March 2020 Solé replaced Alfred Bosch as Catalonia's Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency. He was sworn in on 21 March 2020. Solé was a member of the Cobla Jovenívola d’Agramunt (1987-2006), a youth cobla group, and the Agramunt

scout group A Scout group is a local organization used in some Scout organizations that groups a Scout troop or unit with other age programs, separate gender-based Scout troops and/or multiple Scout troops. A Scout group that groups Scouts with programs fo ...

(1998-2004) where he was a group leader. He is a director of the Grup Caramellaire Aires del Sió.

Personal life

Solé is married and has three children. He played for the basketball club in Agramunt.

Electoral history

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solé, Bernat 1975 births Engineers from Catalonia Educators from Catalonia Foreign ministers of Catalonia Living people Mayors of places in Catalonia Members of the 11th Parliament of Catalonia Members of the 12th Parliament of Catalonia Municipal councillors in the province of Lleida People from Urgell Polytechnic University of Catalonia alumni Republican Left of Catalonia politicians Torra Government