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Home > Jordi Pujol > Politician

Political Biography

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Jordi Pujol has held the following positions in public office:


  • Minister in the Provisional Catalan Generalitat (1977 1980).
  • Member of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies (1977 and 1980).
  • Leader of the parliamentary group CIU in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies (1977 1980).
  • Vice-president of the Parliamentary Defence Committee (1977 1979).
  • Member of Catalan Parliament (1980-2003).
  • President of the Catalan Generalitat (1980-2003).
  • President of the Convergčncia Democrātica de Catalunya party (starting in 1989)
  • Vice-president of the Assembly of European Regions (1988 1992).
  • President of the Assembly of European Regions (1992 1996).
  • President of the Pyrenean Work Community (2003)


First Steps: CDC

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The Creation of Convergčncia Democrātica de Catalunya

In 1974, at the end of the Franco regime, Jordi Pujol founded, albeit in a clandestine way Convergčncia Democrātica de Catalunya (CDC) along with Miquel Esquirol, Jaume Casajoana, Miquel Sellarčs, Roser Capell, Joaquim Ferrer, Miquel Roca and the Uniķ Democrātica de Catalunya headed by Antoni Caņellas and Josep Mirķ i Ardčvol among others.


In February 1977, with General Franco dead and Spanish society in the process of becoming a democracy, the party gained legal status.


From this moment onwards, CDC would take the position of a party never to be determined by a prescribed doctrine of ideology. Instead, it is a party very much inspired by Social Democracy, Christian Democracy and the best societies of the northern economies - above all Sweden- always trying to adapt itself to the political realities of the times, without losing sight of the values it believes are central to democracy and autonomy.



image of Jordi Pujol
image of Jordi Pujol
image of Jordi Pujol
Jordi Pujol, Member of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies

In 1977 Jordi Pujol, representing the Pacte Democrātic - formed by Convergčncia Democrātica de Catalunya, Esquerra Democrātica de Catalunya, Partit Socialista de Catalunya-Reagrupament, and Front Nacional de Catalunya - stood for and subsequently became a Member of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies. These were the first legislative Spanish elections, establishing parliamentary democracy in Spain. On December 5 of the same year he was given the position of Minister without Portfolio of the provisional government of Catalonia, presided over by President Josep Tarradellas, who had returned from exile to inaugurate the new era of the restored the Generalitat, the Catalan autonomous government.


The Coalition of Convergčncia and Uniķ

Jordi Pujol stood and was re-elected in 1979 in the legislative Spanish elections. In that year CDC and Uniķ Democrātica de Catalunya (UDC) drew up an electoral agreement leading to the birth of the coalition Convergčncia i Uniķ (CiU). The coalition stood in the Spanish general election and municipal elections the same year.


Jordi Pujol, President

In 1980 Jordi Pujol stood as a candidate at the primary autonomy elections of the Generalitat de Catalunya. CiU won by a slim majority, but one that was significant enough to make Jordi Pujol the first elected president of the restored Generalitat, with the support of ERC and UCD. For more information about the Government.