Artur Mas i Gavarró
Encyclopedia
Artur Mas i Gavarró (born January 31, 1956) is a Spanish
politician. He is the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
, having assumed office on December 27, 2010 after winning the November 2010 election. He is also the leader of the Catalan liberal nationalist party Democratic Convergence of Catalonia
(CDC) and chairman of the Convergència i Unió
(CIU) coalition.
Mas is an economist who obtained his degree from the University of Barcelona
, and is fluent in English and French, in addition to Catalan
and Spanish. His ideology tends to be considered liberal from the economic point of view, strongly pro-European, and always supporting Catalan nationalism
. From the social point of view, he has mostly supported a social liberal agenda in numerous issues, such as gay rights and abortion.
Mas has voiced support for Catalan independence, but has emphasized that full independence from Spain is not part of his political agenda.
He wrote the foreword to a book by Al Gore
, former vice-president of the United States during the Clinton Administration.
as one of the four children of a wealthy industrialist family. His mother was originally from Sabadell
and his father from Poblenou
. He studied at the French language high school in Barcelona and graduated in economics from the University of Barcelona
.
Before acquiring political responsibilities in Catalonia, he held different posts in both the private and public sectors, especially relating to the internationalization of Catalan enterprise.
Artur Mas was member of the Barcelona City Council from 1987 to 1995, representing the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia
. His first high responsibilities in the Catalan government came during the presidency of Jordi Pujol, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
from 1980 to 2003. Artur Mas served as Catalan Minister of Public Works from 1995 to 1997, as Minister of Economy and Finance from 1997 to 2001, and Deputy Prime Minister (conseller en cap) from 2001 to 2003, as well as being the government's official spokesman
from 2000 to 2003.
Artur Mas ran for the 2003 elections to the Catalan government and won a plurality of seats in the parliament, with four more than PSC
. However, the latter obtained a slightly larger number of votes (this discrepancy between votes and seats obtained is explained by the electoral law and the way seats are assigned). Finally Pasqual Maragall i Mira
was elected President, having forged a coalition with two other left-wing parties, the Republican Left of Catalonia
(ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia – Greens (ICV).
Mas ran again for president in the 2006 elections
. Though his party CiU won these both in number of votes and seats—unlike in the previous elections, it did not reach the absolute majority of seats in the parliament, allowing PSC
's new candidate, José Montilla
, to reach an absolute majority by repeating the coalition government with the same left-wing partners (ERC
and ICV
).
Since 2007, he has put special emphasis on initiating a process, known as the Refoundation of Catalanism (in Catalan, Refundació del catalanisme), to build upon the principles and values of the Catalanist movement, in order to enlarge the majority of society in Catalonia that expresses a nationalist feeling, and not merely inside his own party, CDC. The 'Refoundation of Catalanism' that Mas is actively leading calls for Catalonia to obtain the so-called 'Right to decide' on matters that affect it. This implicitly includes the possibility of putting independence from Spain to a hypothetical referendum. This point is significantly closer to the traditionally more separatist positions of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
and has gained momentum since the issue of the verdict on the Catalan Statute—the Estatut—in July 2010 by the Spanish Constitutional Court, which invalidates certain parts of this law although they were backed by a large majority of Catalan voters by referendum back in 2006.
The Catalan elections that took place on November 28, 2010 were to finally determine the political future of Mas, who was for the third time the Convergència i Unió candidate to the presidency of the country. Surveys had indicated that this time his party would obtain a enough seats to govern without being heavily dependent on third parties and with no risk of a repetition of left-wing coalitions like those of 2003 and 2006. His party finally won 62 of the 135 seats in the Catalan Parliament, thus ensuring that Mas will head the next regional government as president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
During the campaign Mas had promised to put into place the government of 'the best' people, including the possibility of appointing ministers ('Consellers') from outside his political coalition, Convergència i Unió, if their talent justifies doing so. Moreover, he also engaged in a process culminating in full powers over taxation for Catalonia—significantly reducing the so-called 'fiscal deficit' between Catalonia and Spain—by putting this issue to referendum to the Catalans and as a condition for giving any support to Spanish governments in Madrid after the Spanish elections scheduled for 2012.
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...
politician. He is the 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....
, having assumed office on December 27, 2010 after winning the November 2010 election. He is also the leader of the Catalan liberal nationalist party Democratic Convergence of Catalonia
Democratic Convergence of Catalonia
The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. Together with Democratic Union of Catalonia, it forms part of the Convergence and Union coalition. It is affiliated with the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party and with the Liberal International...
(CDC) and chairman of the 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...
(CIU) coalition.
Mas is an economist who obtained his degree 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...
, and is fluent in English and French, in addition to 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...
and Spanish. His ideology tends to be considered liberal from the economic point of view, strongly pro-European, and always supporting Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism or Catalanism , is a political movement advocating for either further political autonomy or full independence of Catalonia....
. From the social point of view, he has mostly supported a social liberal agenda in numerous issues, such as gay rights and abortion.
Mas has voiced support for Catalan independence, but has emphasized that full independence from Spain is not part of his political agenda.
He wrote the foreword to a book by Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
, former vice-president of the United States during the Clinton Administration.
Biography
Artur Mas 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...
as one of the four children of a wealthy industrialist family. His mother was originally from Sabadell
Sabadell
Sabadell is the second largest city in the comarca of the Vallès Occidental in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the comarca, on the River Ripoll, 20 km north-west of Barcelona...
and his father from Poblenou
Poblenou
El Poblenou is an extensive neighborhood of Barcelona that borders the Mediterranean sea to the south, Sant Adrià del Besòs to the east, Parc de la Ciutadella in Ciutat Vella to the west, and Horta-Guinardó and Sant Andreu to the north...
. He studied at the French language high school in Barcelona and graduated in economics 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...
.
Before acquiring political responsibilities in Catalonia, he held different posts in both the private and public sectors, especially relating to the internationalization of Catalan enterprise.
Artur Mas was member of the Barcelona City Council from 1987 to 1995, representing the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia
Democratic Convergence of Catalonia
The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. Together with Democratic Union of Catalonia, it forms part of the Convergence and Union coalition. It is affiliated with the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party and with the Liberal International...
. His first high responsibilities in the Catalan government came during the presidency of Jordi Pujol, 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....
from 1980 to 2003. Artur Mas served as Catalan Minister of Public Works from 1995 to 1997, as Minister of Economy and Finance from 1997 to 2001, and Deputy Prime Minister (conseller en cap) from 2001 to 2003, as well as being the government's official spokesman
Spokesman
A spokesperson or spokesman or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others.In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have received formal training in journalism, communications, public relations and...
from 2000 to 2003.
Artur Mas ran for the 2003 elections to the Catalan government and won a plurality of seats in the parliament, with four more than PSC
Socialists' Party of Catalonia
The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is...
. However, the latter obtained a slightly larger number of votes (this discrepancy between votes and seats obtained is explained by the electoral law and the way seats are assigned). Finally Pasqual Maragall i Mira
Pasqual Maragall i Mira
Pasqual Maragall i Mira is a Catalan politician and was the 127th President of Generalitat de Catalunya . He had previously been Mayor of Barcelona, from 1982 to 1997, and helped run the city's successful Olympic bid....
was elected President, having forged a coalition with two other left-wing parties, the Republican Left of Catalonia
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
(ERC) and Initiative for Catalonia – Greens (ICV).
Mas ran again for president in the 2006 elections
Catalan Parliament election, 2006
Elections to the Parliament of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Spain, were held on November 1, 2006.-Background:The November 2006 Catalan parliament election was an early one...
. Though his party CiU won these both in number of votes and seats—unlike in the previous elections, it did not reach the absolute majority of seats in the parliament, allowing PSC
Socialists' Party of Catalonia
The Socialists' Party of Catalonia is a social-democratic political party in Catalonia, Spain resulting from the merge of two parties PSC Reagrupament led by Josep Pallach i Carolà and PSC Comgres. It is the Catalan referent of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party , and its Aranese section is...
's new candidate, José Montilla
José Montilla
José Montilla Aguilera was the 128th President of Generalitat de Catalunya. He became the First Secretary of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia on 18 June 2000, and a member of the Federal Executive Committee and the Federal Committee of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party on 23 July 2000...
, to reach an absolute majority by repeating the coalition government with the same left-wing partners (ERC
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
and ICV
Initiative for Catalonia Greens
Initiative for Catalonia Greens is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in Catalonia...
).
Since 2007, he has put special emphasis on initiating a process, known as the Refoundation of Catalanism (in Catalan, Refundació del catalanisme), to build upon the principles and values of the Catalanist movement, in order to enlarge the majority of society in Catalonia that expresses a nationalist feeling, and not merely inside his own party, CDC. The 'Refoundation of Catalanism' that Mas is actively leading calls for Catalonia to obtain the so-called 'Right to decide' on matters that affect it. This implicitly includes the possibility of putting independence from Spain to a hypothetical referendum. This point is significantly closer to the traditionally more separatist positions of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya
The Republican Left of Catalonia is a left wing Catalan independentist political party in Spain. It is also the main sponsor of the independence movement from France and Spain in the territories known among Catalan nationalists as Països Catalans...
and has gained momentum since the issue of the verdict on the Catalan Statute—the Estatut—in July 2010 by the Spanish Constitutional Court, which invalidates certain parts of this law although they were backed by a large majority of Catalan voters by referendum back in 2006.
The Catalan elections that took place on November 28, 2010 were to finally determine the political future of Mas, who was for the third time the Convergència i Unió candidate to the presidency of the country. Surveys had indicated that this time his party would obtain a enough seats to govern without being heavily dependent on third parties and with no risk of a repetition of left-wing coalitions like those of 2003 and 2006. His party finally won 62 of the 135 seats in the Catalan Parliament, thus ensuring that Mas will head the next regional government as president of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
During the campaign Mas had promised to put into place the government of 'the best' people, including the possibility of appointing ministers ('Consellers') from outside his political coalition, Convergència i Unió, if their talent justifies doing so. Moreover, he also engaged in a process culminating in full powers over taxation for Catalonia—significantly reducing the so-called 'fiscal deficit' between Catalonia and Spain—by putting this issue to referendum to the Catalans and as a condition for giving any support to Spanish governments in Madrid after the Spanish elections scheduled for 2012.