View source for Pasqual Maragall

{{Short description|Catalan politician}}
{{family name hatnote|Maragall|Mira|lang=Catalan}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honorable#Catalonia|The Right Honourable]]
| name                = Pasqual Maragall
| honorific-suffix    = <small>[[Olympic Order]]</small>
| image               = Pasqual_Maragall_-_Fotografia_oficial.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 2004
| office              = 127th<ref>{{cite web |title=Presidents of the Generalitat |url=https://catalangovernment.eu/catalangovernment/government/presidents |website=catalangovernment.eu |publisher=[[Generalitat de Catalunya]] |access-date=10 July 2020}}</ref> [[President of the Government of Catalonia]]
| term_start          = 20 December 2003
| term_end            = 28 November 2006
| monarch             = [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|Juan Carlos I]]
| firstminister       = [[Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira]]&nbsp;{{small|(2003–2004)}}<br/> [[Josep Bargalló]]&nbsp;{{small|(2004–2006)}}
| predecessor         = [[Jordi Pujol]]
| successor           = [[José Montilla]]
| order2              = 114th [[List of Mayors of Barcelona|Mayor of Barcelona]]
| term_start2         = 1 December 1982
| term_end2           = 26 September 1997
| lieutenant2         = 
| predecessor2        = [[Narcís Serra]]
| successor2          = [[Joan Clos]]
| office3             = [[Opposition (parliamentary)|Leader of the Opposition]] in the [[Parliament of Catalonia]]
| term_start3         = 16 November 1999
| term_end3           = 17 December 2003
| predecessor3        = [[Joaquim Nadal]]
| successor3          = [[Artur Mas]]<br /><small>(Office suspended between 17 December 2003 and 27 May 2004)</small>
| office4             = [[President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games|President]] of the Barcelona'92 Olympic Organising Committee
| term_start4         = 2 October 1988
| term_end4           = 9 August 1992
| predecessor4        = [[Park Seh-jik]]
| successor4          = [[Billy Payne]]
| 1blankname4         = [[President of the International Olympic Committee|IOC President]]
| 1namedata4          = [[Juan Antonio Samaranch]]
| office5             = Chair of the Barcelona'92 Olympic Organising Committee
| term_start5         = 12 March 1987
| term_end5           = 15 September 1992
| predecessor5        = ''Committee established''
| successor5          = ''Position dissolved''
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1941|1|13|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Barcelona]], Spain
| party               = [[Socialists' Party of Catalonia]] (since 1978)
| otherparty          = [[Workers' Front of Catalonia]] (1960s)<br>[[Socialist Convergence of Catalonia]] (1974–1976)<br>[[Socialist Party of Catalonia–Congress]] (1976–1978)
| spouse              = [[Diana Garrigosa]] {{small|(1965-2020; her death)}}<ref>[https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4147508/0/muere-diana-garrigosa-la-esposa-del-expresident-pasqual-maragall/ Muere Diana Garrigosa, la esposa del expresidente de la Generalitat, Pasqual Maragall] {{in lang|es}}</ref>
| children            = Two daughters and a son
| occupation          = [[Politician]]
| alma_mater          = 
| religion            = 
| signature           = Signatura d'en Pasqual Maragall.svg
}}

'''Pasqual Maragall Mira''' ({{IPA|ca|pəsˈkwal məɾəˈɣaʎ}}; born 13 January 1941) is a Spanish retired politician and former [[List of Presidents of Catalonia|President of Generalitat de Catalunya]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/world/catalonian-political-rivals-agree-on-seeking-autonomy.html|title=Catalonian Political Rivals Agree on Seeking Autonomy|last=Fuchs|first=Dale|date=2003-11-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-05|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He had previously been Mayor of [[Barcelona]], from 1982 to 1997, and helped run the city's successful [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] bid.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marshall|first=Tim|title=Transforming Barcelona|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GNpzmTaDRMIC&q=%22Pasqual+Maragall%22&pg=PA65|year=2004|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9780415288415|pages=65–75}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
He was born in [[Barcelona]] in 1941 as the third of eight siblings. His grandfather was the Catalan poet [[Joan Maragall]]. In 1965, he married [[Diana Garrigosa]], and he has two daughters and a son. He was an active member of the [[Workers' Front of Catalonia]] and joined the left-wing anti-Franco movement [[Popular Liberation Front (Spain)|Popular Liberation Front]]. He studied law and economics at the [[University of Barcelona]] between 1957 and 1964.

In 1965, after his studies, he joined the Specialist Office of [[Barcelona City Council]] as an economist, work he combined with giving classes in economic theory at the [[Autonomous University of Barcelona]], acting as assistant to the professor, {{ill|Josep M. Bricall|ca|Josep Maria Bricall i Masip}}. He also cooperated with the Studies Service of the {{ill|Banco Urquijo|es}}, run by {{ill|Ramon Trias Fargas|ca}}.

Between 1971 and 1973, he lived in [[New York City]], where he gained a master of arts in economics from the [[New School University]].

== Beginnings in politics ==

In 1973, he came back to Barcelona and returned to the [[Barcelona City Council]] and to the [[Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona|UAB]], where he gave classes on urban economics and [[international economics]] as a temporary assistant lecturer. One year earlier, he supported [[Socialist Convergence of Catalonia]] and his succeeding party [[Socialist Party of Catalonia–Congress|PSC-C]], one of the founding groups of the [[Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya|PSC]]. In 1978, at the Economics Faculty of the [[Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona|UAB]], he presented his doctoral thesis ''The prices of urban land, The case of Barcelona (1948–1978)''. In 1978, he was a researcher and guest professor at the [[Johns Hopkins University]] in [[Baltimore]]. This university would later appoint him doctor honoris causa.

==First elections==

He joined the [[Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya|PSC]] electoral list in the first democratic municipal election for [[Barcelona City Council]] in 1979 and this party won the most votes at the ballot box. His friend [[Narcís Serra]] became Mayor while he became ''tinent d'alcalde'' (Deputy Mayor) for Administrative Reform, and later for Taxation. On 1 December 1982 he succeeded Narcís Serra as [[Mayor of Barcelona]], since Serra was appointed [[Minister of Defence (Spain)|minister of Defence]] by the new Socialist government of [[Felipe González]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/23/nyregion/new-york-day-by-day-world-of-catalan-comes-for-a-visit.html|title=NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; World of Catalan Comes for a Visit|last1=Johnston|first1=Laurie|date=1983-03-23|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-05|last2=Anderson|first2=Susan Heller|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1986, Barcelona was chosen to host the [[1992 Summer Olympics]] Accordingly, the city's mayor{{spaced ndash}}Pasqual Maragall{{spaced ndash}}presided over the organising committee (COOB'92). The Olympics provided the city with sorely needed infrastructure. Another Maragall initiative, the [[2004 Universal Forum of Cultures]], exhibited the same "top-down" approach. It is widely recognised, however, that the '92 Games helped Barcelona to redefine itself as one of the great cities of Europe.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/weekinreview/the-basics-for-olympics-bid-a-spanish-lesson.html|title=The Basics; For Olympics Bid, A Spanish Lesson|last=Bagli|first=Charles V.|date=2005-06-19|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-05|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

From 1991 to 1997, he was President of the [[Council of European Municipalities and Regions|Council of Municipalities and Regions of Europe]]. He was also Vice-President of the [[International Union of Local Authorities]] and President of the [[Committee of the Regions]] of the European Union from 1996 to 1998.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Former presidents {{!}} European Committee of the Regions |url=https://cor.europa.eu/en/about/president/former-presidents |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=cor.europa.eu |language=en}}</ref>

== Recent years ==
[[File:Maragall.jpg|thumb|180px]]
In 1997, Pasqual Maragall resigned as Barcelona's mayor and returned to university lecturing in Rome and New York City. Two years later he came back to active politics and was elected as the [[Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya|PSC]]-[[Ciutadans pel Canvi|CpC]] candidate for the presidency of the [[Generalitat de Catalunya|Generalitat]] in the [[1999 Catalan Parliament election|1999 election]].

In 2000, he was elected President of the [[Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya]] (PSC-PSOE), and was a member of the [[Catalan Parliament]] from 1988 to 1995. From 1999 to 2003, he presided over the [[Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya|PSC]]-[[Ciutadans pel Canvi|CpC]] parliamentary group.

On 16 December 2003, Maragall was elected [[President of the Government of Catalonia|President of the Generalitat]] by the Catalan Parliament after cliff-hanger negotiations with the [[Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya|ERC]] and [[Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds|ICV]] parties. He finally took office on 20 December. While generally popular as Mayor of Barcelona, Maragall's career as President of the coalition government was marked by a series of crises.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/world/catalonian-political-rivals-agree-on-seeking-autonomy.html|title=Catalonian Political Rivals Agree on Seeking Autonomy|last=Fuchs|first=Dale|date=2003-11-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A particularly severe one involved Chief Councilor [[Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira|Carod]]'s "secret" trip to France to unofficially negotiate with [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]]. Others include the stormy negotiations over a [[Draft of New Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia of 2005|new Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia]] in which Maragall and the PSC hovered between a nationalist stance and giving in to the central government pressure; the collapse of an entire city block in Barcelona's [[El Carmel|Carmel district]] following poorly planned and executed tunnelling work; and a scheme{{spaced ndash}}supported by Maragall's government{{spaced ndash}}to build a tunnel for the [[AVE]] high-speed train under the shaky foundations of Barcelona's 19th-century city centre. In October 2005 Maragall met with objections regarding his plans for reshuffling the cabinet without consulting either his coalition partners or his party. The President's brother, [[Ernest Maragall]], was tipped for a ministerial post in the reshuffle. Ernest, who held the post of Executive Secretary, was seen by critics as an ''[[apparatchik]]'', and whipped up a storm of protest in June 2005 when he opposed plans to make Catalonia's future anti-fraud department independent of the government. Pasqual Maragall's pledges to fight corruption and nepotism in public administration were one of the key planks in his 2003 campaign.

On 21 June 2006, Maragall announced that he would not be standing for reelection (see [[2006 Catalan Parliament election]]). He offered his support to new President [[José Montilla]] amongst controversy over Montilla's non-Catalan heritage, stating that it did not make Catalonia "less Catalan", and later commented that "our new homeland is Europe". He later stated "our new path is the Mediterranean". On 19 October 2007, it was announced that he would not pay his PSOE membership fee anymore, ending three decades of activity within the party. The following day, he announced that he had been diagnosed with [[Alzheimer's disease]] and that he was creating the [[Pasqual Maragall Foundation]] to fight against the illness.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-10-20 |title=Pasqual Maragall anuncia que padece Alzheimer |url=https://elpais.com/internacional/2007/10/20/actualidad/1192831202_850215.html |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=El País |language=es |issn=1134-6582}}</ref>

In 2007 he founded the Catalunya Europa Foundation, which develops work inspired by the thought and political work of Maragall, including the active involvement of Catalan society in a more united Europe, the global role of cities as spaces for social transformation, and lasting dialogue between Catalonia, Spain and Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.catalunyaeuropa.net/en/fundacio/missio-i-objectius/ |title=Mission and objectives |publisher=Catalunya Europa Foundation |access-date=20 April 2021 |language=ca, en, es}}</ref>

In 2017 a collection of essays edited by Jaume Claret, ''Pasqual Maragall: Pensament i acció'', was published by RBA Libros. Academics and colleagues of the politician discuss the essential points of his career: the city and the region, his vision of Catalonia's place in Spain and in the world, government policies and the [[1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Olympic Games]], among others.

In 2020, a documentary film directed by Josep M. Mañé and Francesca Català, ''Maragall i la Lluna'', was released.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://maragallilalluna.com/es/ |title=''Maragall i la Lluna'' |language=ca, es |access-date=20 April 2021 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415161720/https://maragallilalluna.com/es/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The documentary starts with the experience of Lluna, a girl who was eight years old when, in 1993, the then-mayor of Barcelona moved into her home to better understand the reality of the [[Les Roquetes, Barcelona|Roquetes neighborhood]]. Twenty-five years later, Lluna begins a search that starts with the memory of those days and leads her to discover Maragall through family members, acquaintances and politicians.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170308224110/http://www.pasqualmaragall.cat/biografia.php Official website]

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{{S-bef|before=[[Jordi Pujol]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Presidents of the Government of Catalonia|President of the Government of Catalonia]]|years=2003{{spaced ndash}}2006}}
{{S-aft|after=[[José Montilla]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Narcís Serra]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of mayors of Barcelona|Mayor of Barcelona]]|years=1982–1997}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Joan Clos]]}}
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{{S-bef|before=[[Joaquim Nadal]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Opposition (parliamentary)|Leader of the Opposition]] in the [[Parliament of Catalonia]]|years=1999–2003}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Artur Mas]]}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Raimon Obiols]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Socialists' Party of Catalonia|President of PSC]] |years= 2000{{spaced ndash}}2007}}
{{S-aft|after=[[José Montilla]]}}
{{s-sports}}
{{Succession box
| title = [[President of the Olympic Organizing Committee|President of Organizing Committee for Summer Olympic Games]] 
| years = [[Games of the XXV Olympiad|1992]] 
| before = {{flagicon|KOR|1984}} [[Park Seh-jik]]
| after = {{flagicon|USA}} [[Billy Payne]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{First Maragall Cabinet}}
{{Second Maragall Cabinet}}
{{Third Maragall Cabinet}}
{{CataloniaPresidents}}
{{PSC Presidents}}
{{BarcelonaMayors}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maragall, Pasqual}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People with Alzheimer's disease]]
[[Category:Politicians from Barcelona]]
[[Category:Mayors of Barcelona]]
[[Category:Socialists' Party of Catalonia politicians]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Government of Catalonia]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Organising Committees for the Olympic Games]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Olympic Order]]
[[Category:Presidents of the European Committee of the Regions]]