Pasqual Maragall i Mira (born January 13, 1941) is the 127th President of Generalitat de Catalunya (the autonomous system of government of Catalonia). He has previously been Mayor of Barcelona, from 1982 to 1997, and helped run the city's successful Olympic bid.

The early years

He was born in Barcelona in 1941 as the third of a total of eight brothers and sisters. His grandfather is the catalan poet Joan Maragall . In 1965, he got married to Diana Garrigosa , and he has two daughters and a son. He was an active member of the Front Obrer de Catalunya (Workers' Front of Catalonia) and joined the left-wing anti-Franco movement Frente de Liberación Popular (Popular Liberation Front). He studied Laws and Economics at the UB between 1957 and 1964.

After his studies, in 1965, he entered the Specialist Office of Barcelona City Council as an economist, work he combined with the giving classes in economic theory at the UAB, acting as assistant to the professor, Josep M. Bricall . He also cooperated with the Studies Service of the financial institution, Banco Urquijo , run by Ramon Trias Fargas .

He went to live to New York in 1971, and lived there until 1973, where he gained a Master of Arts in Economics from the New School University.

Beginings in politics

In 1973 he returned to Barcelona, where came back 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 before, 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).

He ran the PSC campaign in Barcelona, his party won the most votes at the ballot box, together with Narcís Serra and represented the party before the control committee of the Council. 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 municipal elections for Barcelona City Council in 1979. He became tinent d'alcalde (deputy mayor) for Administrative Reform and then afterwards, for Tax. He succeeded Narcís Serra as Mayor of Barcelona on the December 2 1982.

In 1986, the Catalan capital was chosen to host the 1992 Olympic Games, so the city's major — Pasqual Maragall — presided over the organising committee (COOB'92). This Olympic event signified a huge leap forward, not only for the city of Barcelona but for all Catalonia.

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 Regions of the European Union from 1996 to 1998.

Last years

In 1997, Pasqual Maragall resigned from Barcelona's Mayor and returned to university lecturing in Rome and New York. However, he came back to active politics and was elected as the PSC-CpC candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat in 1999.

In the year 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 the PSC-CpC parliamentary group.

On the 16th of December 2003, Pasqual Maragall was elected President of the Generalitat by the Catalan Parliament and, on the 20th of December, he took office in his position as President.

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
... | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |President of PSC
2000– | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
still in charge

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Narcís Serra i Serra | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Mayor of Barcelona
1982–1997 | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Joan Clos i Matheu