The professor of constitutional law Eliseo Aja Fernández, a strong supporter of federalism and with a long career as a jurist that led him to chair the Consell de Garanties Estatutàries del Parlament, has died at the age of 76 in Barcelona.
Born in Santander in 1946, Eliseo Aja studied law in Valladolid but in 1973 he obtained a doctorate from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and, since 1983, he was professor of constitutional law at the University of Barcelona (UB).
Throughout his life he published a large number of books, including ‘Democracy and socialism in the Spanish 19th century’ (1976), ‘The legal system of the autonomous communities’ (1985), ‘The tensions between the Court Constitutional and the Legislator’ (1998) or ‘The Autonomous State. Federalism and differential features’ (1999).
Eliseo Aja, who is also the co-author of some books written by various jurists, published his latest work, ‘State of Autonomy and Federal Reform’, in 2014. He was part of various advisory commissions for constitutional and legislative reforms in various countries in Europe and Latin America, collaborated as an expert with the Parliament of Catalonia, was president of the Institute of Public Law of Barcelona and in 2005 he was elected president of the Association of Constitutionalists of Spain (2005-2008).
In 2009 he became the first president of the Consell de Garanties Estatutàries Parlament de Catalunya, a position he held until 2017.
Among the expressions of condolences expressed for the death of Eliseo Aja, those of various socialist politicians stand out, such as that of the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, who highlights on Twitter that he was “a prestigious jurist, with a great vocation for public service, who did great contributions to this discipline”.
Illa expresses her “deepest condolences” to her family, friends, and colleagues, and the president of Congress, Meritxell Batet, expresses herself in a coincident sense, affirming that Aja was “a great teacher” for her and for “many others “.
“Brilliant constitutionalist with strong convictions who has vehemently defended his ideas, and a committed man with a great vocation for public service. We will miss him very much,” adds Meritxell Batet.
The PSC deputy in the Parliament and secretary of the Board, Ferran Pedret, indicates on Twitter that the deceased was “a wise man and a teacher” for many jurists, so “it is a great loss.”
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The director of the Institut d’Estudis de l’Autogovern, Joan Ridao, also points out on Twitter that Eliseo Aja was “a convinced federalist and with relevant work to improve cooperation relations between governments.”
The death of Eliseo Aja took place yesterday and the funeral chapel will be installed this afternoon in the Sancho de Ávila funeral home, where the farewell ceremony will be held tomorrow.