The hitherto mayor of Agramunt brings with him his local and parliamentary experience to the ministry

Bernat Solé (Agramunt, 1975) is to be the new Minister of Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency. An industrial engineer with a degree from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Mr Solé assumes the post with the acumen garnered in local and parliamentary politics, both worlds where in recent years he has combined his duties, for which he has been repeatedly endorsed: he has been reconfirmed as the mayor of his city three times and in recent months has served as deputy spokesman for Esquerra’s parliamentary group. A father of three, he has worked as an engineer and as a technology teacher at high school, making the defence of public education and social justice the fundamental pillars of his political action, his daily standard.

His constant appeal to responsibility is how he has led by example in such sectorial debates as the pact against school segregation, and he has been a firm champion in the fight against corruption. Likewise for democracy, civil and political rights, freedoms, and republican values. In point of fact, Mr Solé is one of those who have been persecuted in repression of the 2017 Referendum for Self-Determination in Catalonia. In his case, about to be tried at the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, the prosecutor is requesting a one and a half year sentence of disqualification, charged with the crime of disobedience.

A member of Esquerra since 2006, he paired with now exiled Agriculture Minister Meritxell Serret on the Esquerra ticket for Lleida in the December 2019 parliamentary elections. Mr Solé had already been a Member of Parliament with the Junts per Sí election coalition, and has always cared for the local and the agribusiness worlds, a territory he vindicated in Parliament with cross-party deals beyond the Agriculture Commission. A mountain lover and keen photographer, his roots lie in Agramunt, and he has helped create a social, cultural and musical associations network there.