Joan Saura i Laporta

Infobox_Politician

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name = Joan Saura i Laporta
caption =
birth_date = Monday, April 24, 1950
birth_place = Barcelona (Barcelonès)
residence =
death_date =
death_place =
office = Minister of Home Affairs, Institutional Relations and Participation of the Generalitat de Catalunya
salary =
term_start = November 29, 2006
predecessor = Montserrat Tura i Camafreita and Joan Saura i Laporta
successor =
office2 = Minister of Institutional Relations and Participation of the Generalitat de Catalunya
term_start2 = December 17, 2003
term_end2 = November 29, 2006
predecessor2 = Josep Maria Pelegrí i Aixut
successor2 = Himself
As Minister of Home Affairs, Institutional Relations and Participation
party = ICV
religion =
spouse =
children =
website =
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Joan Saura i Laporta was born in Barcelona in 1950. He studied at the Escola d'Enginyeria Tècnica (Technical Engineering School), where he specialized in Industrial Chemistry. In the beginning, he was devoted to the trade union and the neighbourhood: he enrolled into the CCOO in 1973, while he was working for the electrics company FECSA, and cofounded the "La Florida Neighbourhood Association", in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1974.

Municipal policy

He became town councillor in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat by the PSUC party at the first democratical elections (1979), where he participated in the formation of the government, and he kept as town councilor until 1991.

He also chaired (from 1983 to 1987) the Public Transports commission in Barcelona.

Parliament of Catalonia

He was elected for the III and IV Legislature (1988 to 1995) as deputy for Barcelona in the Catalan Parliament by the ICV party. He was the spokesperson of his party's group and became its president in 1993.

In this Parliament he has roled in several positions, including membership in the Economy, Finances and Budget commission, in the Industry commission, Territorial Politics and several others.

Congress of the Deputies

He was elected in March 3 of 1996 as deputy of the Congress for Barcelona, and reelected in March 12 of 2000, where he has been involved in several Parliamentary Commissions (such as Environment and Defense).

As deputy, Joan Saura has defended several initiatives, such as a rise for the minimum salary, fight against labor sinisterness, homosexual marriage and the Tobin tax. Additionally, he has been strongly opposed to other ones: the Plan Hidrológico Nacional (PHN), the law of reform of the labor market, the law of quality in teaching, the parties' law, the tax reform, the Prestige affair and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

President of ICV

Joan Saura joined the original process of Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV), and he became its vice-president (1993) as well as the head of political relations with Spain.

In the 6th Assembly of the party, (November 2000), he was elected as President of ICV. In June 2002 the party gained an electoral agreement with Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, and Els Verds-Esquerra Ecologista.

A Generalitat candidate

On May 25, 2002 he was elected as the candidate to the presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya by the ICV-EUiA coalition. For that reason, he set up in 2002 a Participative Process and the "What do you think?" campaign, to define the axis of the party's program based on civil participation.

In the elections of 2003, his party got 9 seats in the Catalan Parliament and he, after few months of negotiation, became Minister of Institutional Relations and Participation.