Oriol Junqueras

Junqueras was born in Barcelona and grew up in the working-class neighbourhood of Sant Andreu. He studied history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where he later earned a doctorate in economic history with a thesis on medieval grain markets.¹ Before entering politics full-time, he was a lecturer at the University of Barcelona and a visiting researcher at the University of Oxford. His academic work focused on the economic history of Catalonia in the 14th and 15th centuries, and he co-authored several monographs on the period.²

Junqueras joined ERC in 2003 and was elected to the European Parliament in 2009, where he served until 2011. He became president of ERC in 2011, revitalising the party and steering it toward a pro-independence platform.³ In 2015, he was appointed Minister of Economy and Finance of Catalonia, and in 2016 he became Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance under President Carles Puigdemont. He played a key role in organising the 2017 independence referendum, which was declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court, and in the subsequent unilateral declaration of independence.⁴

After the declaration of independence, Junqueras was arrested and held in pre-trial detention. In October 2019, the Spanish Supreme Court convicted him of sedition and misuse of public funds, sentencing him to 13 years in prison.⁵ His conviction sparked widespread protests in Catalonia. In 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that he had been entitled to immunity as a Member of the European Parliament, but the Spanish court did not release him. In June 2021, the Spanish government granted him a pardon, and he was released after nearly four years in prison.⁶

Beyond his public role, Junqueras is a published historian and a member of the Royal Academy of History of Catalonia. He has written on the medieval Crown of Aragon and has edited a multi-volume history of Catalonia.² In prison, he wrote a book of essays titled Contra la indiferència (Against Indifference), reflecting on politics and ethics. He is also known for his interest in numismatics and has published on medieval coinage. A lesser-known fact is that he was a candidate for mayor of Barcelona in 2011, a race he lost to Xavier Trias.⁷

ERC

Republican Left of Catalonia, a pro-independence political party in Catalonia.

Sedition

A legal term for conduct inciting rebellion against the authority of a state.

Unilateral declaration of independence

A formal declaration that a territory is independent without an agreement with the parent state.