Pasqual Maragall

Pasqual Maragall Mira (Catalan pronunciation: [pəsˈkwal məɾəˈɣaʎ]; born 13 January 1941) is a Spanish retired politician and former President of Generalitat de Catalunya. He had previously been Mayor of Barcelona, from 1982 to 1997, and helped run the city's successful Olympic bid.

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, Josep M. Bricall [ca]. He also cooperated with the Studies Service of the Banco Urquijo [es], run by Ramon Trias Fargas [ca].

Between 1971 and 1973, he lived in New York City, where he earned a Master of Arts in economics from The New School.

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 a temporary assistant lecturer. One year earlier, he supported Socialist Convergence of Catalonia and his succeeding party PSC-C, 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.

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 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 by the new Socialist government of Felipe González.

In 1986, Barcelona was chosen to host the 1992 Summer Olympics Accordingly, the city's mayor – Pasqual Maragall – 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.

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.