We are living through a decisive moment for Catalonia. It might be of the “do or die” type. The effect may not be immediate, but it could lead the country towards a significant loss of personality within two generations. The country has the willpower to prevent it. But it must be vigilant. It cannot delude itself. Nor can it give in. There is no need.

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Jordi Pujol served as president of the Catalan Generalitat and party leader of the nationalist coalition Convergència i Unió (CiU) from 1980 to 2003. He was consecutively re-elected in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995 and 1999.

At the first, fifth and sixth legislatures CiU won the parliamentary elections with a relative majority, and at the second, third and fourth, by an absolute majority. Complete political biography.

Essential Information

• Born June 9 1930 in Barcelona. Married to Marta Ferrusola, with whom he has 7 children.
• Earned a Doctorate in Medicine from Barcelona University.
• Speaks Catalan, Spanish, French, English, German and Italian.
• At 11 years of age, first became aware of Catalonia's devastation in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. It was then that he began to consider the future challenge: to rebuild Catalonia.
• June 13 1960: imprisoned by the Franco regime for protest activities at the Palau de la Música. Remained in prison until 1962.
• April 24 1980: elected as the first president of the Catalan Generalitat after the re-establishment of democracy in Spain.
• December 16 2003: left the presidency after 23 consecutive years.

More about Jordi Pujol

Biography, Political Biography, Life today, Honours and Awards

Political and cultural activism

President of Catalonia (Government Action and Milestones)

Ideology, Books by Jordi Pujol, Books on Jordi Pujol

Conferences and speeches