Josep Piqué

Josep Piqué i Camps (born 21 February 1955 in Vilanova i la Geltrú) is a Spanish politician of the right-wing Spanish People's Party (PP) who represented Barcelona. Pique was initially a member of the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) but left the grouping and subsequently joined the Union of the Democratic Centre.

Between 1986 and 1988, Piqué served as Director General of Industry under the Convergence and Union government of Catalonia.

After the People's Party election in 1996, Piqué was appointed Spanish Minister for Industry as an independent member. He served as Spain's foreign minister from 2000 to 2002. In this capacity, he steered Spain’s foreign policy during its six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union. As part of a cabinet reshuffle, he was replaced by Ana de Palacio y del Valle-Lersundi and instead took over the Ministry 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 of Gibraltar.

Piqué was the president of the Partit Popular de Catalunya from October 2002. He resigned from this position in July 2007 after disagreement over the political direction that the central PP (Partido Popular, People's Party) wanted to impose over the Catalan branch of the party. After serving in the Spanish Congress from 2000 he resigned in 2003 after being elected to the Parliament of Catalonia.

Between November 2007 and 2013, Piqué served as chairman of low-cost carrier Vueling Airlines.

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