The UB pays homage to Ernest Lluch on the 25th anniversary of his assassination
The University of Barcelona will hold a ceremony to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the assassination of politician and UB professor Ernest Lluch. The tribute will take place on Friday, 5 December, at 12 noon, at the Faculty of Economics and Business. Among the speakers will be the vice-rector of the UB, Xavier Triadó; the dean of the Faculty, Laura Guitart; the president of the Ernest Lluch Foundation, Joan Majó; and the president of the Economic and Social Council of Spain (CES), Antón Costas, a disciple and friend of Ernest Lluch. After the institutional speeches, there will be a session of the Ernest Lluch Seminar, an academic tribute organized every year, to which an academic expert in subjects related to those studied by Lluch is invited, such as health economics, territorial economics, improving market regulation and defending competition.
The University of Barcelona will hold a ceremony to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the assassination of politician and UB professor Ernest Lluch. The tribute will take place on Friday, 5 December, at 12 noon, at the Faculty of Economics and Business. Among the speakers will be the vice-rector of the UB, Xavier Triadó; the dean of the Faculty, Laura Guitart; the president of the Ernest Lluch Foundation, Joan Majó; and the president of the Economic and Social Council of Spain (CES), Antón Costas, a disciple and friend of Ernest Lluch. After the institutional speeches, there will be a session of the Ernest Lluch Seminar, an academic tribute organized every year, to which an academic expert in subjects related to those studied by Lluch is invited, such as health economics, territorial economics, improving market regulation and defending competition.
This year, the seminar will include a lecture by Pietro Crocioni, an economist with experience in various regulatory bodies in the United Kingdom and who is currently working at the European Commission on combating the creation of monopolies, where he has investigated important cases of sanctions against companies for monopolistic abuse. Moreover, he has published works on how to prevent abuse by companies that have a monopoly — or near monopoly — on networks that provide basic services, as is the case in sectors such as water, telecommunications and energy.
Joan Ramon Borrell, professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business and coordinator of the seminar, explains that the aim is to “honour Ernest Lluch’s academic career”. “Organized jointly by the Faculty and the Ernest Lluch Foundation, the seminar is always held under the motto Sapere Aude, which Ernest Lluch often repeated: dare to know,” adds Borrell. The audience is usually made up of students, especially master’s and doctoral students, as well as professors and researchers.
An extensive academic and political career
Ernest Lluch had a long academic career at the UB. The Faculty of Economics and Business hosts a sculpture installed by artist Ricard Vaccaro to honour Lluch after he was assassinated. Named Diàleg, the work consists of 11 polymethacrylate and steel forms, corresponding to the 11 letters that make up Ernest Lluch’s first name and surname.
As an assistant to Professor Fabià Estapé, Lluch was expelled from the UB because of his political views. During the dictatorship, he was arrested several times for participating in social and political movements against the regime. His political activism continued in Valencia as founder of the Partit Socialista of the Valencian Community. With the return of democracy, he returned to Catalonia in 1977. He was elected Member of Parliament for Gerona with the Socialistes de Catalunya coalition and in 1980 he was elected spokesperson in the Spanish Congress of Deputies. From 1982 to 1986 he was part of the Socialist Government as Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, a position from which he confronted the most conservative sectors of the health sector and generalized state health coverage with the General Health Law of 1984.
At the time of his death, Lluch was vice-president of the Cercle d’Economia, an organization in which he established critical thinking and dialogue as defining characteristics. Lluch also carried out his academic work as rector of the Menéndez Pelayo International University.
In recent weeks, Ernest Lluch has been honoured at various institutions to mark the 25th anniversary of his assassination.