Born on 17 August 1960 in Barcelona, he began studying chemistry but abandoned his studies after a year; he then enrolled as an Economics student in the
Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), from whence he was expelled after sitting his first year five times, thus reaching the maximum amount of repeats allowed by university regulations. He then focused solely on politics. His earlier stint in the Partido Socialista Popular de Cataluña, which he had joined in September 1977, had been followed a year later by joining the Juventud Socialista de Cataluña and the Partido de los Socialistas de Cataluña (PSC). Elected in the 1987 municipal elections, he served as a councillor in the
Cornellá de Llobregat Town Hall from 1987 to 1991. A politician trusted by Narcís Serra, the latter, Deputy Prime Minister, appointed him Director of the Analysis Department of the
Cabinet Office, a responsibility he held from 1991 to 1995, when he became
Deputy Chieff of Staff. Included as a candidate in number 7 of the list of the PSC to the
Congress of Deputies for Barcelona in the general elections of 1996, he was elected deputy for the sixth legislature. Iceta publicly declared his homosexuality in October 1999, during the campaign for the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia in 1999; he was then considered the first Spanish politician to do so. in which his party won 16 seats. On 27 January 2021,
Pedro Sánchez appointed him as
minister of Territorial Policy and Civil Service of the
Spanish government. Months later, he was appointed
minister of Culture and Sport. He left the office on 21 November 2023. On December 2023, he was appointed
Ambassador Permanent Delegate of the Kingdom of Spain to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (
UNESCO). ==Bibliography==