Amadeu Altafaj i Tardio (

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, April 27, 1968) is a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He has been the Representative of the

Catalan Government The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Governme ...

to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

as well as Head of Delegation of the Catalan government in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

since 2015. He is also an alternate member of the

European Alliance The European Alliance (EA) is a political group in the European Committee of the Regions composed of a mix of regionalist parties and independent members. It was established in 1996, with strong influence of the European Free Alliance, and has ...

group at the

European Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

Career

Altafaj was trained as a journalist and began his career in Brussels as a correspondent for COM Ràdio, '' El Mundo'', and ''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

''.L'exportaveu econòmic de la UE, nou delegat a Brussel·les
/ref> Altafaj was spokesperson of the European Commission for Development and Humanitarian Aid with commissioner

Louis Michel Louis Michel (; born 2 September 1947) is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as minister of foreign affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. From ...

. In March 2010, he became the spokesperson for economic and monetary affairs and the Euro of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, a position in which he gained notoriety in European circles in parallel to the financial and sovereign debt crisis that affected the

Euro zone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

. Between 2012 and 2014, Altafaj was the Deputy Head of Cabinet of

Olli Rehn Olli Ilmari Rehn (; born 31 March 1962) is a Finnish public official who has been serving as governor of the Bank of Finland since 2018. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as the European Commissioner for Enlargement from 2004 ...

, vice-president of the European Commission and European Commissioner of Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro. On December 23, 2014, the Executive Council of the

created the post of Permanent Representative of the Catalan Government to the EU, with a rank of director general (the title was successfully challenged by the Spanish authorities). Altafaj held the position of Head of the Delegation in Brussels and Representative of the Catalan Government to the EU from January 14, 2015 until October 27, 2017, when he was dismissed from his role by the Spanish Government, together with the whole Government of the region and several senior officials, a decision based on article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. In 2018, Altafaj resumed his professional carrier in communication and EU affairs in Brussels.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Altafaj, Amadeu Living people 1968 births Government of Catalonia Journalists from Catalonia Spanish diplomats