Citizens – Party of the Citizenry
Encyclopedia
The Citizens – Party of the Citizenry (Spanish
: Ciudadanos – Partido de la Ciudadanía, official name used nationwide; Catalan
: Ciutadans – Partit de la Ciutadania, used co-officially with former in Catalonia
; short acronym C's) is a Spanish
political party
which describes itself as centre-left and non-nationalist. It is mostly active in Catalonia, where it is the smallest parliamentary party with three MPs in the Catalan Parliament.
(among them Albert Boadella
, Félix de Azúa and Arcadi Espada), in which they called for a new political force to "address the real problems faced by the general public". In this manifesto, they also warned that "the rhetoric of hatred promulgated by official Catalan government media against everything 'Spanish' is more alarming than ever" and that "the (Catalan) nation, postulated as an homogenous entity, has taken occupation of the space where an undeniably diverse society lives".
This group of intellectuals, almost entirely based in Barcelona
, formed a political platform called Ciutadans de Catalunya, or Citizens of Catalonia, in July 2005. They organized several round tables and conferences and by 2006 they announced the formation of a new political party, called simply Ciutadans, or Citizens. In the first congress of 2006, a young lawyer from Barcelona, Albert Rivera
, was elected its president.
In the Catalan elections of 2006, the party gained 3.04% of the vote and won three seats in the Catalan Parliament, all of them elected in the Province of Barcelona.
, to the extent that it has been frequently reproached of being a single issue party, a label refused by its members.
One of the main issues raised by the party is the Catalan language policy
, which actively promotes the use of Catalan language
. The party challenges this policy and defends an equal treatment of Spanish and Catalan. It also opposes the language policy within the Catalan school system, according to which all public education is carried out in Catalan.
The party also supports strengthening the powers of the Spanish central institutions and curtailing the powers of regional administrations.
Other topics include a thorough reform of the Spanish electoral system
in the sense of a greater proportionality that would give less weight to single constituencies. They also support some changes in the Spanish constitution, especially regarding the regional organization. Among other, they propose the complete abolition of the fiscal autonomy for the Basque Country
.
They also support a regulation of prostitution, marijuana and euthanasia
.
C's draws most of its support from the Barcelona metropolitan area
. In the 2010 regional elections, the party gained more than 4% in the counties (comarques
) of Barcelonès
, Baix Llobregat
, Vallès Occidental
and Tarragonès
. Everywhere else, it remained under 4%, with the worst results in the circumscription of Girona (1,69%) and Lleida (1,79%). Only in the circumscription of Barcelona, C's received more than 3% of the vote, which is the threshold for parliamentary representation.
In 2006, the newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya
revealed that Rivera was a member of the Conservative People's Party
(PP) between 2002 and 2006, and that he jumped off PP just three months before running for elections with the Citizen's Party However, Rivera denied being a full member of the party, and only admitted of having participated in some of the actions of the youth section of the party.
and El Periódico de Catalunya
. On the other hand, its opponents and critics frequently point out the disproportionately high coverage of Ciutadans by the Spanish national media, especially the Madrid
-based Libertad digital
, El Mundo
, Telemadrid
, and ABC.
allied with the eurosceptic
Libertas coalition. Other partners in the Libertas ticket include parties deemed by some as far-right or ultra-Catholic, something which would seem to contradict the declared social-liberal and secular stances of C's.
According to some members of C's, the negotiations prior to this electoral pact were led personally and secretly by the party leader, Albert Rivera. This fact has alienated the other two MPs (besides Rivera himself) and a significant part of the party from his leadership. In turn, the official stance of C's is that the critics are acting more as a fifth column
of the ideologically close Union, Progress and Democracy
(UPyD), all resulting in a major crisis within the party.
Several intellectuals that had participated in the formation of Ciutadans, later withdrew their support from C's. Albert Boadella
, for example, became one of the co-founders of the Union, Progress and Democracy party led by former Basque Socialist politician Rosa Diez
.
Prominent meetings of the party have been reportedly picketed by Catalan independentist
groups on several occasions while its leader Albert Rivera has received anonymous death threats urging him to quit politics..
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: Ciudadanos – Partido de la Ciudadanía, official name used nationwide; Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
: Ciutadans – Partit de la Ciutadania, used co-officially with former in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
; short acronym C's) is a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
which describes itself as centre-left and non-nationalist. It is mostly active in Catalonia, where it is the smallest parliamentary party with three MPs in the Catalan Parliament.
History
Ciutadans was formed in Catalonia in July 2006 in response to the call made in a manifesto by a group of Catalan intellectuals critical of Catalan nationalismCatalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....
(among them Albert Boadella
Albert Boadella
Albert Boadella Oncins is a Spanish actor and director, one of the founders of the well-known theatre company Els Joglars.- References :...
, Félix de Azúa and Arcadi Espada), in which they called for a new political force to "address the real problems faced by the general public". In this manifesto, they also warned that "the rhetoric of hatred promulgated by official Catalan government media against everything 'Spanish' is more alarming than ever" and that "the (Catalan) nation, postulated as an homogenous entity, has taken occupation of the space where an undeniably diverse society lives".
This group of intellectuals, almost entirely based in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, formed a political platform called Ciutadans de Catalunya, or Citizens of Catalonia, in July 2005. They organized several round tables and conferences and by 2006 they announced the formation of a new political party, called simply Ciutadans, or Citizens. In the first congress of 2006, a young lawyer from Barcelona, Albert Rivera
Albert Rivera
Albert Rivera Díaz is a Spanish lawyer and politician of Catalan and Andalusian ancestry. He is currently the leader of the Citizens' Party., after having been a member of the conservative People's Party from 2002 to 2006. Albert Rivera quit PP just three months before running for elections with...
, was elected its president.
In the Catalan elections of 2006, the party gained 3.04% of the vote and won three seats in the Catalan Parliament, all of them elected in the Province of Barcelona.
Program and ideological background
C's is mostly considered a liberal party, both in economic policies and social issues. However, the party's program is mostly centered around the opposition to Catalan nationalismCatalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....
, to the extent that it has been frequently reproached of being a single issue party, a label refused by its members.
One of the main issues raised by the party is the Catalan language policy
Language policy
Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. Although nations historically have used language policies most often to promote one official language at the expense of others, many countries now have policies designed to...
, which actively promotes the use of Catalan language
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
. The party challenges this policy and defends an equal treatment of Spanish and Catalan. It also opposes the language policy within the Catalan school system, according to which all public education is carried out in Catalan.
The party also supports strengthening the powers of the Spanish central institutions and curtailing the powers of regional administrations.
Other topics include a thorough reform of the Spanish electoral system
Elections in Spain
There are four types of elections in Spain: general elections, elections to the legislatures of the autonomous communities, local elections and elections to the European Parliament...
in the sense of a greater proportionality that would give less weight to single constituencies. They also support some changes in the Spanish constitution, especially regarding the regional organization. Among other, they propose the complete abolition of the fiscal autonomy for the Basque Country
Basque Economic Agreement
The Economic Agreement is a juridical instrument that regulates the taxation and financial relations between the General Administration of the State of Spain and the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.- First Stage: 1878-1937 :...
.
They also support a regulation of prostitution, marijuana and euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
.
Support, membership and organization
C's is a political force only at the regional level. In the national elections of 2008, it gained only 0.18% of the Spanish votes: in Catalonia, its support was somewhat higher - 0.74% of votes - but significantly smaller compared to the percentages obtained in the Catalan regional elections of 2006 (3.04%) and 2010 (3.4%).C's draws most of its support from the Barcelona metropolitan area
Barcelona metropolitan area
This article is about the metropolitan area. For the administrative area, see Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona .Barcelona metropolitan area is the metropolitan area in Catalonia, north of Spain, centered on the city of Barcelona...
. In the 2010 regional elections, the party gained more than 4% in the counties (comarques
Comarques of Catalonia
This is a list of the comarques of Catalonia . A comarca is roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona...
) of Barcelonès
Barcelonès
Barcelonès is the most economically important comarca of Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Barcelona, which is also the capital of Catalonia.- Municipalities :Population figures are for 2009 .-External links:* *...
, Baix Llobregat
Baix Llobregat
Baix Llobregat is a comarca on the coast of Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Sant Feliu de Llobregat.-Municipalities:Populations are from 2002.* Abrera - pop. 9,166* Begues - pop. 5,023* Castelldefels - pop. 52,405...
, Vallès Occidental
Vallès Occidental
Vallès Occidental is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. It is unique among the comarques in that the two cities Sabadell and Terrassa share the role of comarcal capital...
and Tarragonès
Tarragonès
Tarragonès is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of the three comarques formed in the 1936 comarcal division of Camp de Tarragona. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, between the comarques of Baix Penedès to the northeast and Baix Camp to the south. Over 60% of the population live in the...
. Everywhere else, it remained under 4%, with the worst results in the circumscription of Girona (1,69%) and Lleida (1,79%). Only in the circumscription of Barcelona, C's received more than 3% of the vote, which is the threshold for parliamentary representation.
Controversies
During the election campaign of 2006, the party's president Albert Rivera appeared completely naked in a poster in order to attract publicity to the party.In 2006, the newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya
El Periódico de Catalunya
El Periódico de Catalunya is a morning daily newspaper based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and owned by Grupo Zeta. El Periódico is actually two newspapers, publishing separate editions in Spanish and in Catalan...
revealed that Rivera was a member of the Conservative People's Party
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
(PP) between 2002 and 2006, and that he jumped off PP just three months before running for elections with the Citizen's Party However, Rivera denied being a full member of the party, and only admitted of having participated in some of the actions of the youth section of the party.
Relations to the media
The party frequently complains about alleged boycott on the side of Catalan media, especially the public television: according to their opinion, the party is given too little time to present its views on public television. They have also criticized the Catalan press for similar reasons, especially the Spanish-language Catalan newspapers La VanguardiaLa Vanguardia
La Vanguardia is Catalonia's leading daily newspaper as well as the fourth best-selling in Spain. It has its headquarters in Barcelona, Catalonia's largest city....
and El Periódico de Catalunya
El Periódico de Catalunya
El Periódico de Catalunya is a morning daily newspaper based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and owned by Grupo Zeta. El Periódico is actually two newspapers, publishing separate editions in Spanish and in Catalan...
. On the other hand, its opponents and critics frequently point out the disproportionately high coverage of Ciutadans by the Spanish national media, especially the Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
-based Libertad digital
Libertad Digital
Libertad Digital is an advocacy journalism online newspaper edited in Madrid, Spain.Its claims to be classic liberal, with several contributors often tilting to libertarian conservative.- Origins :...
, El Mundo
El Mundo (Spain)
El Mundo is the second largest printed and the largest digital daily newspaper in Spain and one of the newspapers of record in that country, with a daily circulation topping 300,000 readers for the printed edition and 24 million unique web visitors per month for the...
, Telemadrid
Telemadrid
Telemadrid is the first autonomous public television station of Madrid and the fifth national station, after those of Catalonia, Euskadi, Galicia and Andalusia. It is affiliated with FORTA since its inception, and it is a public channel that belongs exclusively to the autonomous government of...
, and ABC.
European election internal disputes
In 2009 it was announced that C's would run for the European electionEuropean Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...
allied with the eurosceptic
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
Libertas coalition. Other partners in the Libertas ticket include parties deemed by some as far-right or ultra-Catholic, something which would seem to contradict the declared social-liberal and secular stances of C's.
According to some members of C's, the negotiations prior to this electoral pact were led personally and secretly by the party leader, Albert Rivera. This fact has alienated the other two MPs (besides Rivera himself) and a significant part of the party from his leadership. In turn, the official stance of C's is that the critics are acting more as a fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
of the ideologically close Union, Progress and Democracy
Union, Progress and Democracy
Union, Progress and Democracy is a Spanish political party founded in September 2007.It is a progressivist party, between social democracy and social liberalism. One of its goals is to build a federal system for Spain and European Union, with clear responsibilities distributed among local...
(UPyD), all resulting in a major crisis within the party.
Several intellectuals that had participated in the formation of Ciutadans, later withdrew their support from C's. Albert Boadella
Albert Boadella
Albert Boadella Oncins is a Spanish actor and director, one of the founders of the well-known theatre company Els Joglars.- References :...
, for example, became one of the co-founders of the Union, Progress and Democracy party led by former Basque Socialist politician Rosa Diez
Rosa Díez
Rosa Díez González is a Spanish politician. She is a former Member of the European Parliament for the PSOE , integrated in the Party of European Socialists.In 2007 she gave up her seat and left the PSOE due to strong disagreement on what she perceived to be the...
.
Other
Although the party was created in Catalonia as "a response to Catalan nationalism", additional branches have sprung up in the rest of Spain, although without much success.Prominent meetings of the party have been reportedly picketed by Catalan independentist
Catalan independentism
Catalan independentism is a political movement, derived from Catalan nationalism, which supports the independence of Catalonia or the so-called Catalan countries from Spain and France...
groups on several occasions while its leader Albert Rivera has received anonymous death threats urging him to quit politics..