Ernest Maragall

Ernest Maragall
Maragall in 2019
Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency
In office
2 June 2018 – 22 November 2018
PresidentQuim Torra
Preceded byRaül Romeva
(Direct rule from 27 October 2017)
Succeeded byAlfred Bosch
Minister of Education
In office
29 November 2006 – 29 November 2010
PresidentJosé Montilla
Preceded byJoan Manuel del Pozo i Àlvarez
Succeeded byIrene Rigau
Member of the European Parliament
for Spain
In office
1 July 2014 – 30 December 2016
Succeeded byJordi Solé i Ferrando
Member of the Catalan Parliament
for the Province of Barcelona
In office
9 December 2003 – 9 January 2004
Succeeded byBernardo Fernández Martínez
In office
22 November 2006 – 1 December 2006
Succeeded byJordi Terrades i Santacreu
In office
17 December 2010 – 2 October 2012
Assumed office
17 January 2018
Member of Barcelona City Council
In office
1995–2004
Succeeded byMontserrat Ballarín Espuña
Personal details
Born
Ernest Maragall i Mira

(1943-01-05) 5 January 1943 (age 81)
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Political partyRepublican Left of Catalonia
Other political
affiliations
Republican Left of Catalonia–Catalonia Yes

Ernest Maragall i Mira (Catalan pronunciation: [əɾˈnez məɾəˈɣaʎ]; born 5 January 1943, in Barcelona) is a Spanish economist, politician, member of the Parliament of Catalonia and former Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency of Catalonia. He was previously Minister of Education, a member of the European Parliament and a member of Barcelona City Council (BCC).

Born in 1943 in Barcelona, Maragall joined the anti-fascist Workers' Front of Catalonia 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 and its successors, the Socialist Party of Catalonia–Congress 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 which later merged with others to form the Left Movement. He is currently a member of the Republican Left of Catalonia.

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 till 1997. He was elected to the Parliament of Catalonia in November 2003 but resigned upon being appointed secretary of the regional government 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 regional government presided by José Montilla. 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 European Parliament 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.