Josep Piqué Camps (21 February 1955 – 6 April 2023) was a Spanish politician of the conservative People's Party (PP). He served in ministerial departments under the
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spai ...
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 .José Piqué Tetas. He earned a doctorate in Business and Economics and a Law degree 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, ...
.
Political career
Early years
In his youth, and during the last years of the Franco's dictatorship Piqué was a member of extreme left organization Red Flag, and the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia.
Piqué was professor at the University of Barcelona between 1978 and 1986, being the tenured professor of Economic Theory from 1984 to 1986. That year, Piqué was named by Catalan presidentJordi Pujol, Director General of Industry, an office he held until 1988 when returned to the private sector.
Minister of Industry and Energy: 1996–2000
In view of the
1996 general elections
General elections were held in India on 27 April, 2 May and 7 May 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha, eleventh Lok Sabha.
The elections resulted in a hung parliament with no single party having a clear majority. The Bharatiya Jan ...
, the leader of the People's Party (PP) and of the opposition
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spai ...
wanted to improve his image in Catalonia and get closer to the business community and the Catalan bourgeoisie as it was a decisive territory in electoral terms. So in 1995, through the president of the Catalan employers' association Joan Rossell, he contacted Josep Piqué.
After the electoral victory of the PP, José María Aznar, already as
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
, appointed him Minister of Industry and Energy as an independent politician on 5 May 1996, and was sworn the following day. His main objective as minister, Piqué remarked that day, would be the reorganization of public enterprise, without ruling out privatization, in order to reduce the public deficit. He also referred to the reorganization of the electricity sector.
Piqué was responsible for the privatizations of large public companies such as
Repsol
Repsol S.A. El Nuevo Herald, 2012-05-31Originally an init ...
,
Telefónica
, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the ...
,
Endesa
Endesa, S.A. (, originally an initialism for ''Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A''.) is a Spanish multinational electric utility company, the largest in the country. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, ...
and
Aceralia
Aceralia was a large Spanish steel producer formed in 1997 by restructuring of a group formed from earlier mergers of the steel producers ENSIDESA and ''Altos Hornos de Vizcaya''. The company merged into Arcelor in 2001, and became part of ArcelorM ...
.
On 15 July 1998 he was appointed Spokesperson of the Government after rising as one of Aznar's most trusted men.
In January 1999, he joined the People's Party, taking a place in its National Executive Committee. .
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 ...
for the province of Barcelona.
Aznar appointed him, on 27 April, as the new
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
, stepping down from the two previous positions he held.
In this capacity, he also steered Spain's foreign policy during its six-month
presidency of the Council of the European Union
The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member state ...
European Voice
''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...
''.
Piqué maintained a clear
atlanticist
Atlanticism, also known as Transatlanticism or North Atlanticism, is the ideology which advocates a close alliance between nations in Northern America (the United States and Canada) and in Europe on political, economic, and defense issues. The te ...
stance and defended Spain's coalition with the U.S. government that precipitated the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2006 he admitted "very serious mistakes" in the invasion, although he added that the existence of weapons of mass destruction was a conviction shared by everyone.
In the face of the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, Piqué and the Spanish government maintained a position of support to the institutional legality represented by President
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
, but did not treat the event as a coup d'état in spite of having mobilized the Ambassador in Venezuela to hold a meeting with
Pedro Carmona
Pedro Francisco Carmona Estanga (born 6 July 1941) is a former Venezuelan business leader who was briefly installed as acting president of Venezuela in place of Hugo Chávez, following the attempted military coup in April 2002.President of Venezuela
The president of Venezuela (), officially known as the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (), is the executive head of state and head of government of Venezuela. The president leads the National Executive of the Venezuelan go ...
when they were aware of a supposed resignation of Chávez.
Minister of Science and Technology: 2002–2003
As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he was replaced by Ana de Palacio y del Valle-Lersundi and instead took over the Ministry of Science and Technology, which oversees the telecommunications industry. At the time, he was thought to have paid the price for failing to resolve the protracted dispute with the UK over the future of
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
.
During his mandate, he developed the Internet law and promoted the General Telecommunications Law.
In those years he already began to be considered as a possible successor to Aznar in the leadership of the national People's Party, but he was finally sent to lead the People's Party of Catalonia.
In Catalonia
Piqué became president of the People's Party of Catalonia in 2002 and, being a candidate to the Catalan elections of 2003, had the objective of capturing the votes that could be obtained by the ruling Catalanist conservative
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 ...
party, having maintained a very close relationship with the Catalan establishment. He turned the PP of Catalonia towards a moderate and Catalanist conservative position, further away from the centralism defended by the national PP. In fact, he succeeded in getting the PP to participate in the first negotiations of a new
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia
The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 () provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia, the political institutions of the Ca ...
.
He resigned from this position in July 2007 after disagreement over the political direction that the central PP wanted to impose over the regional branch.
Piqué was 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 ...
between 23 December 2003 and 26 July 2007. During this period of time, between 2003 and 2007, he was also
senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
appointed by the Catalan Parliament.
Business career
He started in the business world in the 1980s, when Macià Alavedra introduced him to the circles of the Spanish subsidiary of the
Kuwait Investment Authority
The Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) is the State owned sovereign wealth fund of the State of Kuwait, managing the state's reserve and the state's future generation fund, also known as "Ajyal Fund".
Founded in 1953, the KIA is the world's old ...
group. Previously, he had been appointed chief economist in the research department of
La Caixa
La Caixa (), also known as the "La Caixa" Foundation (), is a not-for-profit banking foundation based in Spain, with its headquarters in Barcelona since March 2025.
Originally a savings bank (''caja''), it reorganized in the 2000s and 2010s: I ...
bank, until 1985.
After his time at the General Directorate of Industry of the Catalan government, Piqué returned to the private sector, when he was called by the businessman Javier de la Rosa to become CEO and president of the chemical company Ercros in 1989. Between 1989 and 1992 he also chaired the company Erkimia. Already involved in the important business and economic circles of Catalonia, Piqué was appointed president, in 1995, of the , until 1996, when he was appointed minister of the Spanish government.
Between November 2007 and 2013, Piqué served as
chairman
The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
of
low-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. From November 2008 until June 2009, Piqué served as member of a six-member panel of EU experts advising the Bulgarian government. Set up by Bulgaria's Prime Minister
Sergei Stanishev
Sergey Dmitrievich Stanishev ( ; born 5 May 1966) is a Bulgarian politician who served Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Socialist Party, which he led from 2001 to 2014, he later served as Member of the European Parl ...
, the advisory board was chaired by
Dominique de Villepin
Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac.
In his career working at the Ministry ...
and mandated to recommend ways to help the country adjust to EU membership. In addition, Piqué served on the Political Sponsorship Committee of the Institut de Prospective Economique du Monde Méditerranéen (IPEMED).
In 2009 he launched Pangea21 Consultora Internacional, a small firm in Barcelona to provide consulting services and management advice in all kinds of international business.
Piqué was appointed member of the board of directors of
Amadeus IT Group
Amadeus IT Group, S.A. () is a major Spanish multinational technology company that provides software for the global travel and tourism industry. It is the world's leading provider of travel technology that focus on developing software for airline ...
in June 2019.
Personal life and death
Piqué married
gynaecologist
Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...
Margarita Montaner, with whom he had three children, but they divorced. In 2009, he married journalist Gloria Lomana.
Piqué died at Hospital 12 de Octubre, in Madrid, on 6 April 2023, at age 68. The funeral service was held at the M-30 mortuary in Madrid the following day.
Recognition
Piqué's oratory was recognized as sharp and brilliant, and he maintained the policy of dialogue, negotiation and moderate conservatism as the axis of his political mood, as well as defender of the autonomic system. He maintained a profile of a discreet and observant politician.
In September 2023, Piqué was posthumously awarded the Premio In Memoriam in the inaugural Premios Vanguardia, presented at the
National Museum of Art of Catalonia
The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalonia, Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona, Pl Espanya, th ...
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 ...