Jordi Carbonell i de Ballester

Who is Jordi Carbonell i de Ballester?

Jordi Carbonell i de Ballester is a Spanish politician and philologist.

A graduate in Romance philology from the University of Barcelona, Jordi Carbonell was a professor in Catalan Language at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, from which he was expelled in 1972 for political reasons. He has been a professor at the University of Cagliari and a lecturer in Catalan at the University of Liverpool.

A founding member of the Society for Catalan Historical Studies, a branch of the Institute for Catalan Studies, he directed the Great Catalan Encyclopaedia from 1965 to 1971.

He participated in several initiatives to oppose the Franco regime, such as the Assembly for Catalonia, and was a founder of the left-wing Catalan nationalist movement, Nacionalistes d’Esquerra. From 1996 to July 2004, he was the President of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, and has since held the post of Honorary President, after handing over to Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira.