Raül Romeva

Raül Romeva i Rueda (born 12 March 1971 in Madrid) is a Spanish politician and a former Member of the European Parliament with the Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds, part of the European Greens. He sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. In the Catalonian parliamentary election of 2015 he led the Pro-Independence electoral list, Together for Yes. He was named Minister of Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations, and Transparency in the Catalan Government under President Carles Puigdemont on January 14, 2016.

Born in Madrid, he was raised in Catalonia. In 1989 he received a degree in economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) Three years later, on 2002, he earned his PhD in international relations at the same university.

From October 1995 to August 1996, Romeva was the principal aide of the UNESCO representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he was responsible for the Educational programme and for promoting the UNESCO School of Peace Culture. He was also an observer for OSCE during the elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1996 and 1997.

Romeva has been an assistant professor of International Relations at the UAB (1994–1995 and 1996–2002), researcher on peace and disarmament at the UNESCO Center of Catalunya (1994–1998) and campaign coordinator for disarmament and armed conflict prevention for Intermón-Oxfam (1998–1999). He contributes frequently to press and radio.

He began his association with Iniciativa Catalunya Verds (ICV) in Caldes de Montbui in 1989. In 1994 and again in 1999 he was a candidate to the European Parliament for ICV, and in 2004 was elected as a Member of the European Parliament, where he held his seat until 2014. During this period, he was considered the most active politician of the European Parliament Chamber and contributed questions or motions more than 1,600 times.

Romeva is currently a research analyst on armed conflict and postwar rehabilitation at the School of Peace Culture at the UAB. He is also the representative for Òmnium Cultural who are responsible for the Ara és l'hora (Now is the Time) campaign, organized by Òmnium and the Catalan National Assembly.

On 15 July 2015, it was announced that Romeva would head Together for the Yes, the pro-independence list for Barcelona in the Catalonian elections on 27 September 2015.

Romeva has written several books and articles, including:

• —— (1997). Pau i seguretat a Europa: prevenció de conflictes armats a l'Europa de la postguerra freda. Centre UNESCO. 
• —— (1999). Bòsnia-Hercegovina: lliçons d'una guerra. Centre UNESCO. ISBN 978-84-89622-60-9. 
• —— (2000). Desarme y desarrollo: claves para armar conciencias[Disarmament and Development]. Intermón Oxfam. ISBN 978-84-89970-72-4. 
• —— (2003). Bosnia en paz: lecciones, retos y oportunidades de una posguerra contemporánea. Catarata. ISBN 84-8319-158-X. 
• —— (2003). Guerra, posguerra y paz: pautas para el análisis y la intervención en contextos posbélicos o postacuerdo [War, PostWar and Peace]. Icaria. ISBN 978-84-7426-652-8. 
• —— (2012). Sayonara Sushi. Novel/ Plaza & Janés / Rosa dels Vents. ISBN 978-84-01-38800-2.