During today’s transfer of responsibilities between the outgoing Secretary for Foreign and European Union Affairs and the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency, Raül Romeva affirmed that the creation of the new department illustrates the importance the Catalan Government has given to the field of foreign relations and, moreover, “it lays out a road-map for the construction of a new State”.

 

The event took place in Casa Canonges­, one of the buildings annexed to the Palau de la Generalitat, after President Puigdemont appointed his new Executive Council in the Hall of Sant Jordi.

 

For the first time in its modern history, the Generalitat will have its own department dedicated to the Executive’s foreign activity, with a unique organisational structure and an acting head, led by Minister Romeva, who will also direct the government structure which comprises the Governance, Justice and Home Affairs Ministries.

 

According to Romeva, the new Ministry has important task of projecting Catalonia internationally to explain “what and who we are, but also to show what we can offer and what we can contribute as a country”. The former MEP also expressed his willingness to “avert controversy” and advocated for the establishment of “permanent dialogue” with all institutional and political agents.

 

Minister Romeva expressed gratitude to his predecessor, Roger Albinyana, for his work as the former head of the Secretariat for Foreign and EU Affairs and underlined the difficulty of “managing an area of such complexity”. Details of the process of transition from the current Secretariat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency will be made known in the coming days.

Raül Romeva i Rueda has a degree in Economics and a PhD in International Relations. He has lectured on European politics and international affairs at several universities. He has worked at the UNESCO Centre of Catalonia, UNESCO Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oxfam and the School for a Culture of Peace at the UAB. He was a Professor of International Relations at the UAB (between 1994 and 2002), electoral consultant for the OSCE, and member of the European Parliament (between 2004 and 2014).

 

During his time at the European Parliament, representing ICV, he mainly worked with the following commissions: Foreign Affairs, Political Affairs and Immigration, Women's Rights and Equality, Fisheries and Marine Affairs, Social Policy, Human Rights and Security and Defence. He also participated in the delegations of EUROMED, EUROLAT, Mexico, Central America and ASEAN, among others. He was also Vice President of the Greens / EFA for five years and was part of several Intergroups, including the defense of LGBT rights.