Miquel Roca

Miquel Roca i Junyent was descendant to two Catalan bourgeoisie families. His paternal grandfather, Ramon Roca Masferrer (1861-1932), was a prestigious personality in the world of Barcelona editors, arts and culture; his maternal grandfather, Miguel Junyent Rovira (1871–1936), was a Barcelona publisher and Carlist politician. He was born in Bordeaux as his father, Juan Bautista Roca Caball (1898-1976) left Catalonia during the Civil War. In his youth, he joined forces with other future Catalan politicians, such as Narcís Serra and Pasqual Maragall, in the Front Obrer de Catalunya, an illegal left-wing organization made up mostly by university students linked to the Popular Liberation Front (FELIPE).

Later in his life, he turned to liberal ideas. He was a founding member of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia in 1974, where he served as the adjunct to the Secretary-General. He was elected to the first democratic parliament after the Francoist dictatorship for the district of Barcelona, where he held his seat from 1977 to 1995 in representation of Convergence and Union. He soon became the leader and speaker of the Catalan Minority in Congress.

From 1982 to 1995, he represented the Generalitat, Catalonia's devolved regional administration, in the Committee for Bilateral Co-operation with the Spanish government. During this period, he failed in his attempt to create a centrist party to act as a counterweight between the conservative People's Alliance and the social-democratic PSOE, a plan known as Operation Roca.

He was the CiU candidate to become the Mayor of Barcelona in 1995, a position he accepted on the advice of then-President of the Generalitat Jordi Pujol. Despite his popularity, he lost by a considerable margin against incumbent Pasqual Maragall, a former correligionary of Roca. He took a post in the insurance company Catalana Occidente soon thereafter. In addition, he runs his own law firm and works as an Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at Pompeu Fabra University. He is also an honorary board member of various Spanish companies.

He was hired by the Spanish Royal Family to defend Cristina de Borbón in the judicial procedures against her in the Noos case. In May 2016, judge José Castro denounced pressures by Roca and his law firm to have a meeting in order to acquit Borbón from all charges pressed against her.

• Despacho Abogados Roca Junyent
• enciclopèdia.cat entry (in Catalan)
• Biografía por CIDOB