Jordi Pujol i Soley
Encyclopedia
Jordi Pujol i Soley (ˈʒɔrði puˈʒɔɫ) (born June 9, 1930) is a Catalan
politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
from 1980 to 2003.
and received a medical degree
from the University of Barcelona
. During his college years, he joined different activist groups that were seeking to rebuild the ideal Catalonia that the Spanish Civil War
and Franco's dictatorship had undermined. Among these organizations were Grup Torras i Bages (where he met other activists such as Jaume Carner or Joan Reventós
), Comissió Abat Oliva, Grup Pere Figuera or Cofradia de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat de Virtèlia.
In 1960, in the course of an homage to Catalan poetist Joan Maragall
, held in Palau de la Música Catalana
, part of the audience sang the Cant de la Senyera (The Song of the Flag in English
) despite being previously prohibited by the Spanish authorities. Jordi Pujol was among those who organized this protest, and he was captured and detained for his protests against the regime of Francisco Franco
. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, accused of organizing the opposition campaign. However, he got out after spending only two and a half years in jail, and immediately started a new line of political activity with the slogan "building the country". This aimed to raise Catalans' national awareness and create the necessary cultural and financial institutions for the development of Catalonia.
after Franco's death in November 1975.
From 1977 to 1980, Pujol was Minister without portfolio
in the Provisional government of Catalonia, presided by Josep Tarradellas
. In 1977 he led Pacte Democràtic per Catalunya, a coalition of Catalan parties that were trying to approve the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia
. In the Spanish general election of 1977
he was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies
, representing Barcelona
. Pujol was re-elected at the 1979 General Election
but resigned from the parliament in 1980.
On March 20, 1980, the first Parliament of Catalonia
elections after Franco's regime were celebrated. The Catalan nationalist party Convergència i Unió
(coalition of CDC and Democratic Union of Catalonia
) won the elections and Jordi Pujol was elected President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
on Abril 24, 1980. He was reelected again in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995 and 1999.
Pujol is an avid supporter of European integration
. In 1985, he started a collaboration with Edgar Faure
in the Council of the Regions of Europe (CRE), which would later become the Assembly of European Regions
(AER). Pujol was the President of the Assembly of European Regions from 1992 to 1996.
Pujol retired in 2003, ending 23 years of service as the President of Catalonia. He left the head of the party (CDC) to Artur Mas.
, Jordi Pujol pertained to the majority establishment in Catalan nationalism, which, instead of seeking a fully independent republic
, intended to work towards a federalized Spain that would, according to Pujol, recognize Catalonia "as a country, as a collective with its own personality and differences," and a "guarantee that her own identity be respected".
However, with the conservative People's Party
waging a political war against the Catalan Statute of Autonomy and opposing recognition for the language in the east of Aragon
, Pujol has stated that, at least since before the Spanish transition to democracy
, "there is more aggression towards Catalonia than ever", and that Catalans can "no longer hope for anything from the Spanish state".
A life-long federalist, Pujol has recently become very disenfranchised by the Spanish political arena. He also has recently stated that the recent surge of outright Catalan separatism is "all in the right".
in 1956 and the couple have seven children.
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...
politician who was the leader of the party Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) from 1974 to 2003, and President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
Generalitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
from 1980 to 2003.
Early life
Pujol was born in BarcelonaBarcelona
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...
and received a medical degree
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
from the University of Barcelona
University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...
. During his college years, he joined different activist groups that were seeking to rebuild the ideal Catalonia that the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and Franco's dictatorship had undermined. Among these organizations were Grup Torras i Bages (where he met other activists such as Jaume Carner or Joan Reventós
Joan Reventós i Carner
Joan Reventós i Carner was the 10th President of the Parliament of Catalonia . He had previously been Minister without Portfolio, from 1977 to 1980...
), Comissió Abat Oliva, Grup Pere Figuera or Cofradia de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat de Virtèlia.
In 1960, in the course of an homage to Catalan poetist Joan Maragall
Joan Maragall
Joan Maragall i Gorina was a Catalan poet, journalist and translator, the foremost member of the modernisme movement in literature.-Life:...
, held in Palau de la Música Catalana
Palau de la Música Catalana
The Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall in Barcelona. Designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for the Orfeó Català, a choral society founded in 1891 that was a leading force in the Catalan cultural movement...
, part of the audience sang the Cant de la Senyera (The Song of the Flag in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
) despite being previously prohibited by the Spanish authorities. Jordi Pujol was among those who organized this protest, and he was captured and detained for his protests against the regime of Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, accused of organizing the opposition campaign. However, he got out after spending only two and a half years in jail, and immediately started a new line of political activity with the slogan "building the country". This aimed to raise Catalans' national awareness and create the necessary cultural and financial institutions for the development of Catalonia.
Political Career and President of Catalonia
In 1974, he passed definitively to the political sphere on founding the political party called Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) (Democratic Convergence of Catalonia in English), of which he was the first Secretary. The political party was not legalized until 1977, during the Spanish transition to democracySpanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
after Franco's death in November 1975.
From 1977 to 1980, Pujol was Minister without portfolio
Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
in the Provisional government of Catalonia, presided by Josep Tarradellas
Josep Tarradellas i Joan
Josep Tarradellas i Joan, 1st Marquess of Tarradellas was a Spanish Catalan politician.In 1931 he became general secretary of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya...
. In 1977 he led Pacte Democràtic per Catalunya, a coalition of Catalan parties that were trying to approve the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia
Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia
The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia , the political institutions of the Catalan nationality, their competences and relations with the rest of Spain, and the financing of the...
. In the Spanish general election of 1977
Spanish general election, 1977
The Spanish general election of 1977 took place on 15 June 1977. It was the first election since the death of Francisco Franco.Voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The elections were held using closed list proportional representation in 52 electoral districts...
he was elected to the Spanish Congress of Deputies
Spanish Congress of Deputies
The Spanish Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. It has 350 members, elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces using the D'Hondt method. Deputies serve four-year terms...
, representing Barcelona
Barcelona (Spanish Congress Electoral District)
Barcelona is one of the 52 electoral districts used for the Spanish Congress of Deputies - the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. When first contested in modern times in the 1977 General Election, Barcelona was the largest electoral district in Congress in terms of...
. Pujol was re-elected at the 1979 General Election
Spanish general election, 1979
General elections were held in Spain on 1 March 1979.-References:* *...
but resigned from the parliament in 1980.
On March 20, 1980, the first Parliament of Catalonia
Parliament of Catalonia
The Parliament of Catalonia is the unicameral legislature of Catalonia. It is formed by 135 members , who are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of Catalonia, by universal suffrage in proportional lists with four...
elections after Franco's regime were celebrated. The Catalan nationalist party Convergència i Unió
Convergència i Unió
Convergence and Union is a centre-right electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. CiU is technically a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia and its smaller counterpart, the Democratic Union of Catalonia . It is currently led by Artur Mas, who is the...
(coalition of CDC and Democratic Union of Catalonia
Democratic Union of Catalonia
The Democratic Union of Catalonia is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. Together with the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia, it is part of the Convergence and Union coalition.It describes itself as Catalan nationalist and Christian Democrat....
) won the elections and Jordi Pujol was elected President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
The President of the Generalitat of Catalonia is the head of government of Catalonia. The president leads the executive branch of the regional government....
on Abril 24, 1980. He was reelected again in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995 and 1999.
Pujol is an avid supporter of European integration
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, political, legal, economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe...
. In 1985, he started a collaboration with Edgar Faure
Edgar Faure
Edgar Faure was a French politician, essayist, historian, and memoirist.-Career:Faure was born in Béziers, Languedoc-Roussillon. He trained as a lawyer in Paris and became a member of the Bar at 27, the youngest lawyer in France to do so at the time...
in the Council of the Regions of Europe (CRE), which would later become the Assembly of European Regions
Assembly of European Regions
The Assembly of European Regions , the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 270 regions from 33 countries and 16 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.- Historical background...
(AER). Pujol was the President of the Assembly of European Regions from 1992 to 1996.
Pujol retired in 2003, ending 23 years of service as the President of Catalonia. He left the head of the party (CDC) to Artur Mas.
Pujol and Catalan Nationalism
During the last decades of the Franco regime and his 23 years as President of the Generalitat de CatalunyaGeneralitat de Catalunya
The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
, Jordi Pujol pertained to the majority establishment in Catalan nationalism, which, instead of seeking a fully independent republic
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...
, intended to work towards a federalized Spain that would, according to Pujol, recognize Catalonia "as a country, as a collective with its own personality and differences," and a "guarantee that her own identity be respected".
However, with 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...
waging a political war against the Catalan Statute of Autonomy and opposing recognition for the language in the east of Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, Pujol has stated that, at least since before the Spanish transition to democracy
Spanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
, "there is more aggression towards Catalonia than ever", and that Catalans can "no longer hope for anything from the Spanish state".
A life-long federalist, Pujol has recently become very disenfranchised by the Spanish political arena. He also has recently stated that the recent surge of outright Catalan separatism is "all in the right".
Personal life
He married Marta Ferrusola in Santa Maria de MontserratSanta Maria de Montserrat
Santa Maria de Montserrat is a Benedictine abbey located on the mountain of Montserrat, in Monistrol de Montserrat, in Catalonia, Spain.It hosts the Virgin of Montserrat, and the Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, a publishing house, one of the oldest presses in the world still running, with...
in 1956 and the couple have seven children.