“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of our husband and father, Josep Piqué Camps, on October 12 in Madrid. His personal integrity, his strength, his love for family, work and his fight for life will accompany us always,” his family said in a note.

The journalist and former director of Antena 3 News Gloria Lomana has been dismayed by the death of what she has said has been the love of her life. Lomana had been married for the second time to Piqué since May 22, 2009.

“Thank you for the love you are transmitting to me. For this reason, you will be able to say goodbye to him tomorrow at the M-30 Funeral Home, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. His integrity, strength, love for family, work and life will always be with us”, has expressed on the social network Twitter.

It was the deputy secretary for institutional action of the PP, MEP and vice president of the European Popular Party, Esteban González Pons, who confirmed the news of the death on his social networks.

“The death of Josep Piqué fills me with sadness, in addition to being a benchmark in international relations, industry and constitutionalism, he represented an intelligent way of doing politics. Yes, Piqué was intelligence, education, dialogue and good humor. He leaves us an irrefillable gap” , has pointed out González Pons.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has sent his love and a heartfelt hug to the family, friends and colleagues. “A public servant leaves us, a man committed to civil society and always willing to dialogue. DEP”, the head of the Executive has extolled on his Twitter account.

The leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has remembered Piqué as “an excellent professional always willing to help his country”.

“I am deeply sorry for the death of Josep Piqué,” Feijóo wrote in a post on his Twitter profile, in which he referred to the former minister as “a true Catalan, a great Spaniard and best friend.”

The president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès and national coordinator of ERC has highlighted the “relevance of Josep Piqué’s political and business career” and has thanked him for his “affable treatment”, an acknowledgment that he wanted to do beyond the “great ideological and political distance with their positions,” he stated on his Twitter account.

With a degree in Economics and Business Sciences and Law from the University of Barcelona, ​​Piqué held various political positions in the governments of José María Aznar, as Minister of Industry and Energy between 1996 and 2000, spokesman for the Executive between 1998 and 2000, Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2000 and 2002, and Minister of Science and Technology between 2002 and 2003.

During his tenure, numerous state-owned companies such as Repsol, Aceralia, Telefónica and Endesa were privatized, and the State Industrial Agency was also liquidated and the foundations for the liberalization of the electricity sector were laid.

His political activity began during his university days, when he was a member of the PSUC and began his professional career as a professor at the University of Barcelona.

Between 1986 and 1988 he was General Director of Industry of the Generalitat.

He joined the PP in January 1999 and was elected deputy for Barcelona in March 2000.

He was president of the PP of Catalonia and candidate for the Generalitat in two elections. He resigned as president of the PP in this community in July 2007 and subsequently resigned as a deputy in the Catalan Parliament and as a senator.

The president of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, has assured that Piqué, also and former leader of the popular Catalans, was “one of the great politicians in the history of Catalonia and Spain”, a memory to which other former presidents of the PPC have joined like Daniel Sirera and Xavier García Albiol.

The former minister had a long career in business. In 2007 he left politics and became a member of the Círculo de Economía and an academic collaborator at the Esade Business School.

Piqué was president of Vueling (between 2007 and 2013) and ITP Aero (between 2017 and 2022), CEO of OHL (between 2013 and 2016), and was linked from different positions to companies such as Seat, Mapfre, Aena, Amadeus, Abengoa , Eads (main shareholder of Airbus), Ezentis or Atrys Health, among others.

The president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), Antonio Garamendi, has lamented the loss of Piqué, whom he has described as a “friend”.

“Today we have not only lost a great politician, economist and statesman. We have lost a friend with whom I was lucky enough to share talks, concerns and the desire to create a better Spain. Thank you Josep, always in our hearts. Rest easy in peace”, said Garamendi after learning of his death.

In addition, the CEOE, on its official Twitter profile, has conveyed the “condolences of the Spanish companies” to Piqué’s family and friends. In his opinion, he was “a man with a sense of State”, with “a deep vision of the world context and enormous respect for democratic institutions and our country” and “an example for all”. The employers’ association Cepyme and the self-employed association ATA have also expressed their condolences.

The Catalan employers’ association Foment del Treball has mourned the death of Piqué, whom it has defined as a “wise and affable person”, and who has highlighted his “broad economic and business vision”.

On its Twitter account, the organization has highlighted the collaboration that Piqué had with Foment in different fields, such as the commission for the expansion of El Prat Airport.

For his part, the general secretary of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez, has also lamented the death of Piqué. “I regret the death of Josep Piqué, political and business leader. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends,” he pointed out.