Albert Rivera

This article is about the Spanish politician. For the Spanish-American anti-Catholic activist, see Alberto Rivera (activist).
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Rivera and the second or maternal family name is Díaz.
Albert Rivera
MP
Leader of the Citizens Party
Assumed office
9 July 2006
Preceded by Position established
Member of the Congress of Deputies
Assumed office
7 January 2016
Constituency Madrid
Member of the Catalan Parliament
In office
1 November 2006 – 4 August 2015
Constituency Barcelona
Personal details
Born Albert Rivera Díaz
(1979-11-15) 15 November 1979
Barcelona, Spain
Political party Citizens (2006–present)
People's Party (2003–2006)
Spouse(s) Beatriz Tajuelo
Children 1
Alma mater Ramon Llull University

Albert Rivera Díaz (legal name: Alberto Carlos Rivera Díaz, born 15 November 1979) is a Spanish lawyer and politician, who has been the leader of Citizens since July 2006. He is a member of the Congress of Deputies and a former member of the Parliament of Catalonia.

Early life and education

Rivera was born in Barcelona. He won the Catalan swimming championships at the age of 16[1] and played for the Granollers water polo team.[2]

He went on to study law at ESADE, part of the Ramon Llull University, completing the degree in 1997. He completed a master's degree in constitutional law from the same institution in 2002.[3] He also studied for one year at the University of Helsinki in Finland, as part of an Erasmus scholarship. He has also taken a course at the George Washington University in political marketing.[2]

After starting his degree in law, he began to be interested in politics by taking part in a debating competition.

Professional career

Once he completed his university studies, Rivera began working as a legal counsel at the La Caixa savings bank in 2002.[3] He stopped working for La Caixa in 2006 when he became the president of Citizens.[2]

Political career

Rivera was elected as the president of Citizens during their founding conference in July 2006. He was re-elected as president again in 2007 and 2011.

Rivera was first elected to the Parliament of Catalonia in the 2006 parliamentary election, and remained a member until he stepped down before the 2015 parliamentary election. Launching the Citizen's campaign for the Parliament of Catalonia in 2006, Rivera published a number of leaflets where he posed naked alongside the caption: "We don't care where you were born. We don't care which language you speak. We don't care what kind of clothes you wear. We care about you".[4] Rivera, and the wider Citizens party, are opposed to Catalan independence.[5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.elmundo.es/especiales/2006/10/elecciones-cataluna/candidatos/rivera.html Perfil de Albert Rivera en elmundo.es
  2. 1 2 3 Valdivia, Antonio Ruiz (22 February 2015). "23 cosas que no sabías de Albert Rivera". El Huffington Post (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Currículum Vitae de Albert Rivera". Modelo Curriculum (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  4. ↑ Clark, Amy (7 October 2006). "Candidate Bares Naked Truth, Literally". CBS News. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Clean hands". The Economist. 19 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
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