Rafael Ribó Massó was born on 10th May 1945 in Barcelona. He holds degrees in Law and Economics and a doctorate in Political, Economic and Commercial Science from the University of Barcelona. He also holds an MA in Politics from the New School for Social Research in New York.
Rafel Ribó has ample experience in the field of teaching in higher education institutions. Although now retired, he was a senior lecturer of Political and Administration Sciences at the University of Barcelona. Since he started teaching at university level in 1970, Dr Ribó has been a lecturer at the University of Barcelona, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, the American College, and the New School for Social Research. Moreover, he presented the first doctoral thesis written in Catalan after the Spanish Civil War in 1974. The title of the thesis was “El concepte de cultura política segons Almond: a la recerca de l’especificitat política dels pobles” (The concept of political culture according to Almond: searching the political specificity of the people).
Dr Ribó started his career in politics in 1963 when he was a member of student and intellectual movements. He was a member of the Catalan Assembly and became the Secretary of the Liaison Committee. In 1986, he became the Secretary-General of the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC, in Catalan). He was a Member of the Parliament of Catalonia until the end of the sixth mandate (1980–2001), Congressman at the Congress of Spain (1993–1995), and Secretary-General of the political party Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV, in Catalan). From 2004 until june 2022, Dr Ribó was the Ombudsman of Catalonia. As an ombusdman, he co-founded the International Association for Language Comissioners.
In June 2006, Dr Ribó was appointed President of the International Ombudsman Institute. Currently, he is the Regional President for Europe and one of the members of the International Board of Directors. In addition, together with other ombudsmen, he has promoted the National Energy Ombudsmen Network (NEON). NEON was finally founded in 2015 in Brussels.
Dr Ribó has published several books, chapters and studies, including Catalonia’s Political System, The National Question and the Catalan Nations, and Special Regions and European Union Treaty Reform. He is also a regular contributor for newspapers and magazines in Catalonia, Spain and other countries.
Date of appointment: 9 July 2001
