Josep Piqué | |
|---|---|
 Piqué in 2008 | |
| Minister of Science and Technology | |
| In office 10 July 2002 – 3 September 2003 | |
| Monarch | Juan Carlos I |
| Prime Minister | José María Aznar |
| Preceded by | Anna Birulés |
| Succeeded by | Juan Costa |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 27 April 2000 – 10 July 2002 | |
| Monarch | Juan Carlos I |
| Prime Minister | José María Aznar |
| Preceded by | Abel Matutes |
| Succeeded by | Ana Palacio |
| Spokesperson of the Government | |
| In office 16 July 1998 – 27 April 2000 | |
| Monarch | Juan Carlos I |
| Prime Minister | José María Aznar |
| Preceded by | Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Bajón |
| Succeeded by | Pío Cabanillas Alonso |
| Minister of Industry and Energy | |
| In office 6 May 1996 – 27 April 2000 | |
| Monarch | Juan Carlos I |
| Prime Minister | José María Aznar |
| Preceded by | Juan Manuel Eguiagaray |
| Succeeded by |
|
| President of People's Party of Catalonia | |
| In office 19 October 2002 – 19 July 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Alberto Fernández Díaz |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Sirera |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Josep Piqué Camps (1955-02-21)21 February 1955 Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain |
| Died | 6 April 2023(2023-04-06) (aged 68) Madrid, Spain |
| Political party | PPC |
| Other political affiliations | |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | University of Barcelona |
Josep Piqué Camps (21 February 1955 – 6 April 2023) was a Spanish politician of the conservativePeople's Party (PP). He served in ministerial departments under theJosé María Aznar government. He also helmed thePeople's Party of Catalonia from 2003 to 2007.
Josep Piqué Camps was born on 21 February 1955 inVilanova i la Geltrú,province of Barcelona, the son of local politicianJosé Piqué Tetas.[1][2] He earned a doctorate in Business and Economics and a Law degree from theUniversity of Barcelona.[1]
In his youth, and during the last years of theFranco's dictatorship Piqué was a member of extreme left organizationRed Flag, and theUnified Socialist Party of Catalonia.[3][4]
Piqué was professor at the University of Barcelona between 1978 and 1986, being the tenured professor of Economic Theory from 1984 to 1986.[5][6] That year, Piqué was named byCatalan presidentJordi Pujol, Director General of Industry, an office he held until 1988 when returned to the private sector.[4][1]
In view of the1996 general elections, the leader of thePeople's Party (PP) and of the oppositionJosé María Aznar 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.[1] So in 1995, through the president of the Catalan employers' associationFoment del Treball [es]Joan Rossell, he contacted Josep Piqué.[1]
After the electoral victory of the PP, José María Aznar, already asPrime Minister, appointed himMinister of Industry and Energy as an independent politician on 5 May 1996, and was sworn the following day.[7][8] 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.[9]
Piqué was responsible for the privatizations of large public companies such asRepsol,Telefónica,Endesa andAceralia.[2]
On 15 July 1998 he was appointedSpokesperson of the Government after rising as one of Aznar's most trusted men.[10][1]
In January 1999, he joined the People's Party, taking a place in its National Executive Committee. .[2]
In the2000 general elections, Piqué became member of theCongress of Deputies for the province of Barcelona.[2]
Aznar appointed him, on 27 April, as the newMinister of Foreign Affairs, stepping down from the two previous positions he held.[11]
In this capacity, he also steered Spain's foreign policy during its six-monthpresidency of the Council of the European Union.[12]
Piqué maintained a clearatlanticist stance and defended Spain's coalition with the U.S. government that precipitated the2003 invasion of Iraq.[1] 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.[13]
In the face of the2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, Piqué and the Spanish government maintained a position of support to the institutional legality represented by PresidentHugo Chávez, but did not treat the event as a coup d'état in spite of having mobilized the Ambassador in Venezuela to hold a meeting withPedro Carmona. On 15 April he supported the return of Chávez as an "opportunity for democracy"[14] In 2004 Piqué assured that they believed that Carmona, at that time, had assumed the position ofPresident of Venezuela when they were aware of a supposed resignation of Chávez.[15]
As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he was replaced byAna de Palacio y del Valle-Lersundi and instead took over theMinistry 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 ofGibraltar.[12]
During his mandate, he developed the Internet law and promoted the General Telecommunications Law.[16]
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 thePeople's Party of Catalonia.[17]
Piqué became president of the People's Party of Catalonia in 2002 and, being a candidate to theCatalan elections of 2003, had the objective of capturing the votes that could be obtained by the ruling Catalanist conservativeConvergence and Union party, having maintained a very close relationship with the Catalan establishment.[1] He turned the PP of Catalonia towards a moderate and Catalanist conservative position, further away from the centralism defended by the national PP.[1] In fact, he succeeded in getting the PP to participate in the first negotiations of a newStatute of Autonomy of Catalonia.[1][18]
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.[4][19]
Piqué was member of theParliament of Catalonia between 23 December 2003 and 26 July 2007.[20] During this period of time, between 2003 and 2007, he was alsosenator appointed by the Catalan Parliament.[21][22][16]
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He started in the business world in the 1980s, whenMacià Alavedra introduced him to the circles of the Spanish subsidiary of theKuwait Investment Authority group.[23] Previously, he had been appointed chief economist in the research department ofLa Caixa bank, until 1985.[5]
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 businessmanJavier de la Rosa to become CEO and president of the chemical company Ercros in 1989.[5][1] Between 1989 and 1992 he also chaired the company Erkimia.[5][1] Already involved in the important business and economic circles of Catalonia, Piqué was appointed president, in 1995, of theCercle d'Economia [es], until 1996, when he was appointed minister of the Spanish government.[5][1]
Between November 2007 and 2013, Piqué served aschairman oflow-cost carrierVueling Airlines.[24]
In November 2008, Piqué was co-chair of theGlobal China Business Meeting 2008 inMadrid.[25] 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 MinisterSergei Stanishev, the advisory board was chaired byDominique de Villepin and mandated to recommend ways to help the country adjust toEU membership.[26] In addition, Piqué served on the Political Sponsorship Committee of the Institut de Prospective Economique du Monde Méditerranéen (IPEMED).[27]
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.[24]
Piqué was appointed member of the board of directors ofAmadeus IT Group in June 2019.[28]
Piqué marriedgynaecologist Margarita Montaner, with whom he had three children, but they divorced.[1] In 2009, he married journalistGloria Lomana.[29]
Piqué died atHospital 12 de Octubre, in Madrid, on 6 April 2023, at age 68.[29] The funeral service was held at the M-30 mortuary in Madrid the following day.[30]
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 theautonomic system. He maintained a profile of a discreet and observant politician.[18][31]
In September 2023, Piqué was posthumously awarded the Premio In Memoriam in the inauguralPremios Vanguardia,[32] presented at theNational Museum of Art of Catalonia inBarcelona in 2023 by theKing Felipe of Spain.[citation needed]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 27 April 2000 – 9 July 2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of thePartido Popular de Cataluña 2003–2007 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
