Ernest Lluch

Who was Ernest Lluch?

Ernest Lluch Martín, was a Spanish economist and politician from Catalonia. He was Minister of Health and Consumption from 1982-1986 in the first post-Francisco Franco Spanish Socialist Workers' Party government of Felipe González. He was assassinated in 2000 by the Basque separatist organisation, ETA.

Lluch was born in Vilassar de Mar, Barcelona province. He gained his doctorate in Economic Sciences at the University of Barcelona, and studied further at the Sorbonne in Paris. While assistant professor at the University of Barcelona, he was detained on several occasions and expelled from the University for his anti-francoist political activity. He served as professor of Economics at the University of Valencia and History of Economic Doctrines of the University of Barcelona. His last official position was as Director of the Menéndez Pelayo International University in Santander, from 1989 to 1995.

In April 1980 he was chosen as spokesman of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, PSC to the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and, two years later, in the elections of October 1982, he was chosen as a deputy by the PSC representing Barcelona.