Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya
Which party was Pasqual Maragall a member of from 1978 to 2007?
Pasqual Maragall Pasqual Maragall i Mira ( ; born 13 January 1941 ) is a Spanish politician and former President of Generalitat de Catalunya . He had previously been Mayor of Barcelona , from 1982 to 1997 , and helped run the citys successful Olympic bid . 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 . 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 , . He also cooperated with the Studies Service of the , run by . 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 UAB , where he gave classes on urban economics and international economics as temporary assistant lecturer . One year earlier , he supported Convergència Socialista de Catalunya , one of the founding groups of the PSC . In 1978 , at the Economics Faculty of the 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 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 dalcalde ( 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 by the new Socialist government of Felipe González . In 1986 , Barcelona was chosen to host the 1992 Summer Olympics Accordingly , the citys mayorPasqual Maragallpresided over the organising committee ( COOB92 ) . 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 . From 1991 to 1997 , he was President of the 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 . Recent years . In 1997 , Pasqual Maragall resigned as Barcelonas mayor and returned to university lecturing in Rome and New York City . However , he came back to active politics and was elected as the PSC-CpC candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat in the 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 PSC-CpC parliamentary group . On 16 December 2003 , Maragall was elected President of the Generalitat by the Catalan Parliament after cliff-hanger negotiations with the ERC and ICV parties . He finally took office on 20 December . While generally popular as Mayor of Barcelona , Maragalls career as President of the coalition government was marked by a series of crises . A particularly severe one involved Chief Councilor Carods secret trip to France to unofficially negotiate with ETA . Others include : the stormy negotiations over a 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 Barcelonas Carmel district following poorly planned and executed tunnelling work ; and a schemesupported by Maragalls governmentto build a tunnel for the AVE high-speed train under the shaky foundations of Barcelonas 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 Presidents 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 Catalonias future anti-fraud department independent of the government . Pasqual Maragalls 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 Montillas 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 Alzheimers disease and that he was creating the Pasqual Maragall Foundation to fight against the illness . 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 . 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 Catalonias place in Spain and in the world , government policies and the 1992 Olympic Games , among others . In 2020 , a documentary film directed by Josep M . Mañé and Francesca Català , Maragall i la Lluna , was released . 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 Roquetes neighborhood . Twenty-five years later , Lluna begins a search which starts with the memory of those days and leads her to discover Maragall through family members , acquaintances and politicians . External links . - Official website