Global InformationArtur Mas information
The Right Honourable Artur Mas | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2011 | |
| 129th[1] President of the Government of Catalonia | |
| In office 24 December 2010 – 11 January 2016 | |
| Monarchs | Juan Carlos I Felipe VI |
| Vice President | Joana Ortega Neus Munté |
| Preceded by | José Montilla |
| Succeeded by | Carles Puigdemont |
| First Minister of Catalonia | |
| In office 19 January 2001 – 20 December 2003 | |
| President | Jordi Pujol |
| Preceded by | Josep Tarradellas (1937) |
| Succeeded by | Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira |
| Leader of the Opposition of Catalonia | |
| In office 27 May 2004 – 23 December 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Pasqual Maragall (2003) |
| Succeeded by | Joaquim Nadal |
| Minister of Economy and Finance of Catalonia | |
| In office 30 July 1997 – 17 January 2001 | |
| President | Jordi Pujol |
| Preceded by | Macià Alavedra |
| Succeeded by | Francesc Homs Ferret |
| Minister of Town and Country Town and Public Works of Catalonia | |
| In office 15 June 1995 – 30 July 1997 | |
| President | Jordi Pujol |
| Preceded by | Jaume Roma |
| Succeeded by | Pere Macias |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Artur Mas i Gavarró 31 January 1956 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain |
| Citizenship | Spanish |
| Political party | Independent (since 2023) |
| Other political affiliations | Catalan European Democratic Party (2016–2023) Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (1991–2016) |
| Spouse | Helena Rakosnik |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Barcelona (BSS) |
| Signature |  |
Artur Mas i Gavarró (Catalan pronunciation: [əɾˈtuɾ ˈmas]; born 31 January 1956) is a Catalan politician. He was president of the Government of Catalonia from 2010 to 2015[2] and acting president from September 2015 to 12 January 2016.
Mas is a long time member of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC by its Catalan acronym) which used to be the bigger of the two component members –along with Unió Democràtica de Catalunya– of what at the time was a long-standing electoral coalition, Convergència i Unió (CiU), a liberal nationalist coalition which had dominated Catalan regional politics since the 1980s.[3] In 2001 Mas was named general secretary of CDC, then, in 2012 he was named president of the party[4] until the party was refounded in July 2016 as PDeCAT, which he presided between July 2016 and January 2018.
From 2003 to 2015, Mas has run five times for the Catalan presidency, four heading the –nowadays defunct– CiU ticket and one running for the novel Junts pel Sí coalition. He attained the presidency in two elections, 2010 and 2012 (both running for CiU) but neither with an absolute majority. In the absence of single party majorities, both tenures were marked by political instability and ended with Mas calling a snap election.
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 and supportive of Catalan independence. From the social point of view, he has mostly supported a moderate agenda in numerous issues, such as gay rights, but not same-sex marriage[5] and free debate on his party concerning abortion.[6]
In 2010,[citation needed] for the first time, Mas indicated he would vote "Yes" on a hypothetical referendum to secede from Spain. Since then, sovereignty and Catalan independence have become the central part of his political agenda,[7][8] with Mas being instrumental in CDC's novel turn towards separatism.
- ^ "Presidents of the Generalitat". catalangovernment.eu. Generalitat de Catalunya. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- ^ Buck, Tobias (29 June 2017). "Catalonia's referendum exposes a divided Spain". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022.
- ^ "UDC sale del Govern y pone en jaque una alianza de 37 años de CiU". La Vanguardia. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ "Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya". Enciclopedia.cat. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ "Artur Mas, en el nacimiento de Convergais". Ambiente G. 27 May 2008. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ ""No s'entén la llibertat de Millet"". Televisió de Catalunya. Archived from the original on 5 January 2012. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
- ^ "Artur Mas: Votaría sí en un referéndum sobre la independencia de Cataluña". Voz Libre. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ Minder, Raphael (5 October 2012). "Catalan Leader Boldly Grasps a Separatist Lever". New York Times. Retrieved 1 July 2023.