Joan Clos i Matheu

Joan Clos i Matheu ( born June 29, 1949 in Parets del Vallès ) is a Catalan politician. He held office from 1997 to 2006 as mayor of Barcelona from 2006 to 2008, he was industry minister in the Cabinet Zapatero I. He is a member of the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya ( PSC), the Catalan sister party, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español ( PSOE).

Political career

Clos studied medicine at the University of Barcelona. In 1979 he was appointed to the city council of Barcelona director of the health department. In the local elections in 1983, he was elected on the list of Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya in the city council in 1987 as a candidate of the district Ciutat Vella. In 1991 he was appointed second deputy mayor with the department management, organization and the environment. Following the resignation of his predecessor Pasqual Maragall he was confirmed on 26 September 1997 and mayor in the elections of 1999 and 2003 in this office. On 8 September 2006, he resigned and was sworn in the following day as a Spanish Industry Minister.

Since 2010 he is the successor of Anna Tibaijuka Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in Nairobi.

Policy as mayor

Whereas its predecessor Maragall hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona taught at Clos tenure of the first Forum of Cultures in 2004. The forum came because of its strong commercial orientation in the criticism and did not reach the expected Besuchererzahlen of five million visitors.

During the forum, the renovation of the districts Besós and Diagonal Mar was taken east of the city in attack.

The plan to carry out the planned high line (AVE ) to Madrid underground in the city center, has been criticized on the building because of the feared impact.