Jaume Giró will be the Catalan Government's new Minister of Economy

Major surprise in the new Government: Jaume Giró will be the new Minister of Economy, ARA has known. This ex-director of La Caixa, who lately gained a special public notoriety as a Joan Laporta's right-hand man in the FC Barcelona elections, has been the person chosen for this key position in the new Government.

Initially, everything indicated that the position would be occupied by Elsa Artadi, but she herself surprised everyone this week by announcing she would not become a cabinet member. Initially, when it was expected the position would be occupied by Artadi, the forecast was that Economy minister would also become vice-president, as has happened since 2015. Finally it will not be so and Giró will only be minister.

With the decision to appoint Giró one of the main doubts hovering around the formation of the new Govern is cleared. The names of the rest of the members of the new executive will be known in the next few days.

Jaume Giró Ribas (Badalona, 1964) was general director of the La Caixa Foundation between 2014 and 2019, when he left the post due to disagreements with the president, Isidre Fainé. One of these differences, precisely, was about La Caixa companies moving their headquarters outside Catalonia after the 2017 referendum. With a degree in Information Sciences and a diploma in Business Administration, he worked as a journalist at Europa Press. Since 1990, when he joined the communication team of Catalana de Gas (nowadays, Naturgy), he has held different positions in La Caixa group's companies, including deputy general management at CaixaBank.

Since leaving La Caixa, Giró has opened an office offering different services, including lobbying. He also became editor of The New Barcelona Post.

Giró acquired much prominence during Joan Laporta's most recent campaign to become Barça president, and everything was planned for him to be the economic vice president of the club. But after the elections and a few days before the inauguration of the new board of directors, Giró decided to step aside and did not join the club's management.