Gloria Lomana, Josep Piqué’s widow, received the support and consolation of colleagues, friends and family this Good Friday at the M30 funeral home in Madrid. The former director of Atresmedia News for more than a decade, she maintained great integrity and was at all times supported by the children of the deceased and other relatives.
Many politicians and friends of her former husband came to express their condolences and say their last goodbye to the former minister with Jose Maria Aznar, with whom he held the Foreign and Industry portfolios, in addition to serving as a spokesperson. All agreed to highlight in his visit to the funeral chapel in the M-30 Funeral Home in Madrid the “loyalty”, the “human quality” and the capacity for dialogue of the deceased.
“We would need many more people like him in Spain,” Aznar said upon arrival at the funeral home. The former president praised the figure of the former minister for his “loyalty” and public service work, and, specifically, for his work at the head of the Ministries of Industry, Foreign Affairs and Science and Technology. “In all positions he performed with great brilliance and was a very intelligent and loyal man,” he said, visibly moved.
In the same vein, the former Minister of the Presidency of Spain expressed Javier Arenas, who defined Piqué as “a great Spaniard, a great Catalan, a great economist, a great professor and a great politician” of whom, however, “what stood out the most was his human quality”.
The former Minister of the Interior Jaime Mayor Ear He remembered Piqué as “a great partner, both personally and politically”. “He had a great ability to get along with everyone from the economic sector to communication, so it’s a great loss for everyone,” he said. They also went to say goodbye to their former colleagues Esperanza Aguirre and Rodrigo Rato.
Also, the senator of the PP Alicia Sanchez Camacho, who chaired the PP of Catalonia from 2008 to 2017, after Piqué left that position, claimed the figure of the former minister as one of the “most important that Spain, the PP and Catalonia have ever had”. “He was my boss, my teacher, a great statesman and a benchmark for everyone in Catalonia,” he added, to celebrate that he leaves a “Great legacy of constitutionality, stability, progress and concord”: “He believed in a Catalonia and a Spain of all”.
“The love of my life”
The journalist, who referred to Josep Piqué as the love of her life, showed an admirable integrity this Friday. As we picked up, it was Gloria Lomana who reported on Thursday, through social networks, the sad news of the death of the businessman at only 68 years of age after a long illness: “Dismayed by the death of the love of my life, Josep, thank you for the love you are transmitting to me His integrity, strength, love for family, work and life will always accompany us,” the note read.
Gloria Lomana went to the funeral home when the wake had almost ended, minutes before the burial. Inside, the widow received the condolences of many of the politicians who paid their respects to her and reiterated the great admiration they feel for the figure of Piqué. We did not only see familiar faces of the PP. The former minister Reyes Maroto, Socialist candidate for mayor of Madrid, said that Piqué was a benchmark for her while she was Minister of Industry. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Health of the socialist government of Zapatero, Trinidad Jimenez, He highlighted his profile as a “public servant” of the former minister. “He was a great minister and a person with whom you could talk and dialogue. We must highlight the respect that he always maintained. He had a lot of personal affection for him,” he said.
begona villacis She was one of the first to come. The deputy mayor of Madrid attended accompanied by the former leader of her formation, Albert Rivera. José Luis Martínez Almeida dedicated some beautiful words to the deceased, just like Borja Semper. Almeida referred to Piqué as “a great statesman”, “with the best humanism”. “He is an irreparable loss without a doubt, he will always remain in our memory, since he is a faithful representative of the ability to have meeting points in a society like the Spanish one,” he declared.
The deputy of Citizens in Congress Miguel Gutierrez He regretted the death of Piqué, who, he recalled, denounced “what was the possible drift of the Catalan independence movement” when Ciudadanos was born. “For Cs he was a great reference,” he added, to underline that at this time, “of very low-level politics”, people like the former minister are needed.
Piqué (Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona, 1955), who died this Thursday at the age of 68, was the leader of the PP in Catalonia and held the positions of Minister of Industry and Energy (1996 -2000), Minister Spokesperson for the Government (1998- 2000), Foreign Affairs (2000-2002) and Science and Technology (2002-2003) in the Aznar governments.
Since he left politics, Piqué has recovered his business facet and held, among other positions, president of the low-cost airline Vueling, CEO of OHL, and currently also part of the board of directors of the automobile manufacturer. Spanish Seat.
The Popular Party had recently included Piqué as a member of the new party foundation, called ‘Reformismo21’ and with which the formation intends to attract talent and experience with the aim of giving “added value to politics in general and to the PP in particular “.