Former Catalan MEP Francesc Gambús dies aged 45

Francesc Gambús, who served as a Catalan member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2019, has died in Brussels aged 45.

Gambús was a member of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament. He was especially active in Environmental issues and recently published a book on 'Circular Economy'.

He was currently working as an advisor to the People's Party MEP Rosa Estaràs.

Gambús was a convinced Euro-enthusiast. He used to invite groups of students to the European Parliament to show them how the European institutions work.

"We have many things to celebrate: years of peace, a common market that works, a welfare system, and an Erasmus system that has helped a whole generation to feel more European than ever," he said during an interview with ACN.   

Gambús always advocated celebrating the EU while working to reform "things that don't work" in the Union.

He was also in favor of allowing the use of Catalan language in the European Parliament and, in fact, he defied the president by using his mother tongue during the 25^th anniversary of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML).

Gambús advocated for dialogue to solve the current stalemate between Catalonia and Spain. "Catalonia has always fitted well in the process to build the European Union, Catalonia has always aspired to be an actor in Europe," he said during the events of the 60^th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. According to him, the EU should be "an example" for Spain and Catalonia of "how to build consensus."