Joan Josep Nuet

Joan Josep Nuet i Pujals (born 6 August 1964) is a Spanish politician from Catalonia who previously served as Member of the Congress of Deputies of Spain.

He was previously a member of the Senate of Spain and the Parliament of Catalonia.

Nuet was born on 6 August 1964 in Reus, Catalonia.

He is the son of Joan Nuet i Pallèja, a Republican veteran of the Battle of the Ebro, and Montserrat Pujals.

He has a sister, Montserrat.

A member of the Party of the Communists of Catalonia since 1986, Nuet became its secretary-general in January 2010.

Nuet joined the Party of the Communists of Catalonia (PCC) in 1986 and served as secretary-general of its youth wing, the Collectives of Young Communists – Communist Youth (CJC-JC).

One of his earliest political acts was campaigning against Spain joining NATO in the 1986 referendum.

Nuet left Reus in 1988 to study history in Tarragona, specialising in contemporary history.

He lived in Barcelona for a couple of years before settling in Montcada i Reixac with his partner.

Nuet has a degree in geography and history from the University of Barcelona.

Nuet was a member of Montcada i Reixac Municipal Council from 1991 to 2003 and served two terms as a deputy mayor.

He was a member of Montcada i Reixac Municipal Council from 1991 to 2003 and was deputy mayor from 1991 to 1999.

He was a metropolitan councillor for the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) from 1992 to 1999.

Nuet was one of the founders of the United and Alternative Left (EUiA), the Catalan wing of the United Left (IU), in 1998 and was a member of its national commission and the national council.

At the 1999 regional election he was placed 36th on the EUiA electoral alliance's list of candidates in the Province of Barcelona but the alliance failed to win any seats in the province and as a result he failed to get elected.

Nuet took part in the negotiations that led to the 2002 electoral agreement between EUiA and Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV).

At the 2004 general election he was placed third on the Initiative for Catalonia Greens–United and Alternative Left (ICV–EUiA) electoral alliance's list of candidates in the Province of Barcelona but the alliance only managed to win two seats in the province and as a result he failed to get elected.

At the IU's 8th Assembly in December 2004 Nuet was elected to the IU's federal political council, federal executive presidency and federal permanent commission.

He was an appointed member of the Senate of Spain from December 2006 to February 2011.

In December 2006 Nuet was appointed to the Senate of Spain by the Parliament of Catalonia, replacing Jaume Bosch.

At the 2008 general election Nuet was placed third on the ICV–EUiA electoral alliance's list of candidates in the Province of Barcelona but the alliance only managed to win one seat in the province and as a result he failed to get elected.

He was re-appointed to the Senate in March 2008.

At the IU's 9th Assembly in November 2008 Nuet headed the Nacional II list of candidates in the election of the IU's federal political council (CPF) which came in third, behind the lists headed by Cayo Lara and Inés Sabanés, after receiving 144 of the 761 votes (19%), translating into 17 out of 90 seats on the CPF.

As none of the lists obtained more than 50% of the votes the 90 elected members of the CPF postponed electing a General Co-ordinator (leader) until the remaining 90 members of the CPF were appointed by the IU's various federations.

At the meeting of the CPF on 14 December 2008 Nuet came second in the election for General Co-ordinator after receiving 29 of the 167 votes (17%), trailing behind Lara who received 92 votes.

Nuet became the CPF member with responsibility for internal co-ordination and he was also a member of the IU's federal executive committee.

Nuet was the only Spanish politician on board the Spirit of Humanity, the Free Gaza Movement ship that tried unsuccessfully to take humanitarian aid to Gaza in January 2009 following the Israeli invasion.

At the PCC's 12th Congress in Cotxeres de Sants in January 2010 Nuet was elected secretary-general unanimously.

He was a member of the Congress of Deputies from December 2011 to October 2015 and a member of the Parliament of Catalonia from October 2015 till his resignation in March 2019.

In February 2011 ICV–EUiA nominated Joan Saura, despite the objections of EUiA, to be its representative in the Senate resulting in Nuet losing his seat.

Nuet contested the 2011 general election as a Plural Left electoral alliance candidate in the Province of Barcelona and was elected to the Congress of Deputies.

He was co-ordinator general of the United and Alternative Left from June 2012 to June 2019.

He was elected the EUiA's co-ordinator general in June 2012 after receiving 114 of the 134 votes (85%) of the alliance's national council.

He has been secretary-general of the Communists of Catalonia since its formation in November 2014.

In November 2014, at the Congress of Communist Unity held at the La Farga in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Nuet was elected secretary-general of the newly formed Communists of Catalonia.

He was Third Secretary of the Parliament of Catalonia from October 2015 to October 2017.

Nuet contested the 2015 regional election as a Catalunya Sí que es Pot electoral alliance candidate in the Province of Barcelona and was elected to the Parliament of Catalonia.

He was elected to the Congress of Deputies at the April and November 2019 Spanish general election.

After a trial on charges of disobedience for his role in the Catalan declaration of independence, he was handed down an eight-month ban from public office and expelled from Congress on 4 May 2021.