Joaquim Nadal

Years as mayor of Girona (1979-2002)

In 1979, he was the first mayor of Girona democratically elected after the Spanish transition, from the PSC). He resigned in 2002, in favour of his substitute Anna Pagans i Gruartmoner, also from the PSC. During his term of office as mayor of Girona, he launched the reform of the Barri Vell (1982), together with the promotion of the Call Jueu, the ancient Jewish neighbourhood. He also put into practice the widening and improvement of the social services’ infrastructures, bringing balance to the inequalities among neighbourhoods. As mayor of Girona, he also held the post of president of the Federation of Catalan Municipalities (1981–1985).

He was the PSC candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat in the 1995 elections for the Catalan Parliament, of which he was member from 1984 to 2012. He is the first secretary of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) at Girona since 2008.

Period in Catalan government (2003-2010)

In the year 2003, he joined the government of Pasqual Maragall (PSC) as Councillor of Territorial Policy and Public Works, also serving as the Spokesman of the Catalan Government. He was considered the fourth-ranking member of the government. Nadal presided the Department of Territorial Policy and Public Works in 2005 during the crisis of El Carmel, when construction work to lengthen Barcelona Metro line 5 caused a building to collapse and forced the evacuation of 84 other buildings. Convergence and Union, then the opposition group in the Catalan Parliament, called on Nadal to resign, considering him the councillor responsible for the safety of public works projects, whereas the government blamed the opposition party for poor planning of the project during the last government of Jordi Pujol. As head of the department, Nadal promoted and approved the Catalan Plan for Transport Infrastructures to regulate all new road and railway infrastructures of Catalonia until 2026. The plan included a railway cross axis to link central Catalonia with the Lleida and Girona areas.

When the governing three-party coalition was broken by the removal of those councillors belonging to the Republican Left of Catalonia in May 2006, Nadal became Councillor of the Presidency, a position he held until the end of the legislature later that year. In November 2006, the newly elected President of the Generalitat, José Montilla, reappointed him Councillor of Territorial Policy and Public Works.

Opposition leader

Nadal became the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Catalonia in December 2012, upon constitution of the 9th Legislature, with Convergence and Union forming a minority government and the Socialists' Party of Catalonia as the opposition party with the most seats. On September 3, 2012, the executive committee of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia decided to replace the party's leadership in Parliament, including Nadal. He was also opposition leader from 1995 to 1999.

Political thought

Among his political stances, he has shown his willingness to consider the granting immigrants the right to vote in municipal elections, which must be conceived, according to his own words, as a “limited ruled project”, “with the utmost rigor” but with a series of “cautions” as, for instance, that the only immigrants with right to vote should be those from countries with which a “reciprocity” agreement exists.

Academic career and publications

Nadal has intermittently taught at the University of Liverpool (1970–1972), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (1972–1992) and the University of Girona (since 1992). His research work has been devoted to the 18th century in Catalonia, 19th-century Spanish economic history and local history, concentrating on various contributions to the history of Girona. Nadal did not run in the 2012 Catalan parliamentary election, announcing he planned to return to his teaching duties at the University of Girona.

Nadal has also published a number of books, such as: