Former President José María Aznar "very sincerely" regretted the death on Thursday of Josep Piqué, whom he appointed Minister of Industry and Energy (1996 and 2000), Foreign Affairs (2000 and 2002) and Science and Technology (2000 and 2003). "He was an excellent friend, collaborator and minister of the Government of Spain. I will always remember and be grateful for the excellent work he carried out in all the responsibilities he had to assume and which he carried out with great loyalty and brilliance", he pointed out.
The former leader of the Catalan PP during the Statute stage and representative of a conservative Catalanism and loyal to the Constitution has died at the age of 68 at the Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid, as reported by the family in a statement.
To the numerous expressions of condolence that have followed one another after the news was known, that of the current President of the Government has been added. "My love and heartfelt hug to the family, friends and colleagues of Josep Piqué. A public servant leaves us, a man committed to civil society and always ready for dialogue," Pedro Sánchez wrote on his Twitter account.
The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has also lamented the death of his party partner. "We lose an excellent professional always willing to help his country, a Catalan by strain, a great Spaniard and best friend. All my love to Gloria and the rest of the family. Rest in peace," he said in a tweet.
The wife of the former minister, the journalist Gloria Lomana, has been "dismayed" by the death of the "love" of her life, has thanked the expressions of affection received and has reported that they will watch over the mortal remains of the deceased in the funeral home of the M-30 in Madrid this Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. "His integrity, his strength, his love for family, work and life will always be with us," she wrote on Twitter.
The general secretary of the PP and spokesperson for the party in Congress, Cuca Gamarra, has remembered the deceased as an "intelligent, open-minded and affable" person and "a benchmark of high-level politics for Catalonia and Spain." "A man always at the service of his country", she has pointed out in a publication on the same social network.
For his part, the Institutional Deputy Secretary of the PP, Esteban González Pons, has expressed his "sadness" over the death of his party mate, whom he has described as a "reference in international relations, industry and constitutionalism" who "represented a form intelligent to do politics": "Yes, Piqué was intelligence, education, dialogue and good humor. He leaves us an irrefillable gap".
The President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, thanked the kindness of Aznar's trusted man and highlighted his professional career in all areas. "The great ideological and political distance with his positions does not prevent me from thanking him for his affable treatment and recognizing the relevance of his political and business career," he said in a tweet.
From the business field, the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has also felt the death of the former minister and manager. "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," said the representative of the employers' association.
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