Economics professor Francesc Granell died in hospital after suffering a beach accident

The economist Francesc Granell died this Tuesday at the Trueta hospital in Girona at the age of 78 after suffering an accident on a Catalan beach last weekend, according to sources close to the family.

The professor and economist Francesc Granell died this Tuesday at the Josep Trueta Hospital in Girona at the age of 78, where he was admitted after suffering a beach accident at the weekend, as reported by La Vanguardia,  a medium with which he collaborated and where he wrote the last article last August 26. 

Granell was professor of International Economic Organization at the UB and was an expert in international relations and development cooperation, as well as honorary director general of the European Commission. Last 2012, the Generalitat awarded him the Cross of Sant Jordi for his career both in Catalonia and at European level. 

At the Generalitat, he held the position of director general of Commercial Promotion and at the European Commission he negotiated Finland’s entry into the EU and was in charge of relations with Caribbean, Pacific and Indian countries.

Throughout his career, he was decorated by the governments of Finland, Spain and Austria and received several recognitions, such as the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise, the Europe Star Award 2011, granted by the Association of European Diplomats.

He was also a member of the Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences; of the College of Economists of Catalonia, where he was a member of merit and a member of the Editorial Board of the Revista Econòmica de Catalunya, published by the organization; of the Catalan Society of Economics, the Institute of Catalan Studies and the Economics Circle.

After his passing became known, he was remembered by several economic organizations, as well as political leaders. The first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa , has remarked that he was a “reference in his field” and has emphasized the positions he held in various European and United Nations bodies, while the former mayor of Barcelona Xavier Trias , who has pointed out that despite being “ideologically distant” with Granel, he was united by “a deep love for the city of Barcelona and for recovering it as a benchmark for progress”.