Oriol Junqueras

Oriol Junqueras i Vies
Oriol Junqueras, in 2012
Vice President of the Catalan Government
Incumbent
Assumed office January 14, 2016
Preceded by	Neus Munté
Regional Minister of Economy and Finance
Incumbent
Assumed office January 14, 2016
Preceded by	Andreu Mas-Colell
Mayor of Sant Vicenç dels Horts
In office June 11, 2011 – December 23, 2015
Preceded by	Amparo Piqueras Manzano
Succeeded by	Maite Aymerich
President of the Republican Left of Catalonia
Incumbent
Assumed office September 17, 2011
Preceded by	Joan Puigcercós
Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Catalonia
In office January 9, 2013 – October 2, 2015
Preceded by	Xavier Sabaté i Ibarz
Succeeded by	Inés Arrimadas
Member of the European Parliament
In office June 7, 2009 – January 16, 2012
Personal details
Born	April 11, 1969 Barcelona, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Political party	Republican Left of Catalonia
Alma mater	Autonomous University of Barcelona
Profession	University professor

Oriol Junqueras i Vies (Catalan pronunciation: [uɾiˈɔɫ ʒuŋˈkeɾəz i ˈβi.əs]; 11 April 1969) is a Spanish historian and politician. He is the current Vice President of Catalonia. He is the former mayor of Sant Vicenç dels Horts and has been the president of the Republican Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC) since 17 September 2011. In the Catalan elections held on September 27, 2015, he formed part of the Together for Yes (Junts pel Sí) coalition which won 62 seats in the 135-member Parliament of Catalonia.^[1]

Academic career

Junqueras completed his primary and secondary education at an Italian school in Barcelona. He began his university education studying economics at the University of Barcelona, but went on to earn an undergraduate degree in Modern and Contemporary History and a doctorate in History of Economic Thought from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.^[2] His thesis analyzed the origins of modern economic thought in the western Mediterranean, establishing appropriate parallels with English and Castilian thought in the first decades of the seventeenth century.

He is a professor in the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has contributed to a variety of Catalan radio and television programs related to history.

Political career

Junqueras headed ERC's electoral list for the 2009 European elections. He appeared on the list as an independent, despite serving on the town council of Sant Vicenç dels Horts as a member of ERC. Junqueras won a seat in the European Parliament as part of the group The Greens–European Free Alliance.

On 11 June 2011 he was elected mayor of Sant Vicenç dels Hort with the support of the electoral coalition he had led, Junts per Sant Vicenç (Together for Sant Vicenç), Initiative for Catalonia Greens-United and Alternative Left and Convergence and Union, leaving the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, the party that had received the most votes in the 22 May municipal elections, in the opposition.

Junqueras became a member of the Parliament of Catalonia following the election held on 25 November 2012. He is the president of the Republican Left of Catalonia's parliamentary group.^[3] On 19 December 2012, following weeks of negotiations between their parties, Junqueras and Artur Mas, the president of Convergence and Union, signed a "governability agreement". The agreement includes a commitment to hold a referendum in 2014 on whether Catalonia should separate from Spain.^[4] The Republican Left of Catalonia agreed to provide Mas with the additional parliamentary votes he needed to be reelected President of the Generalitat and guarantee the stability of his government, receiving concessions to its economic and political program in return. In January 2013 Núria de Gispert, president of the Parliament of Catalonia, named Junqueras Leader of the Opposition, despite the objections of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia and Initiative for Catalonia Greens, who argued that this position could not be held by the leader of a party that had a "governability agreement" with the governing party.^[5]

References

1. Minder, Raphael (2015-09-27). "Separatists in Catalonia Win Narrow Majority in Regional Elections". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
2. "Oriol Junqueras (biography from official website)" (in Catalan). Retrieved 27 November 2012.
3. "Fitxa del diputat/da - Il·lm. Sr. Oriol Junqueras i Vies" (in Catalan). Parliament of Catalonia. 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
4. Raphael Minder (19 December 2012). "Spain: Separatist Parties in Accord". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
5. "Oriol Junqueras, nomenat cap de l'oposició malgrat crítiques del PSC i ICV ("Oriol Junqueres named Leader of the Opposition despite the criticism of the PSC and ICV"" (in Catalan). El Punt-Avui. 9 January 2013.

External links

• Oriol Junqueras