Puigdemon, Carles

The early life and career of a journalist

Carles Puchdemon was born in 1962 in the city of Amer ( Selva mosquito, province of Girona ) in the family of Xavier Puigdemont ( Cat. Xavier Puigdemont ) and Nuria Casamajo ( Cat. Núria Casamajó ) ^[10] . Carles’s parents, hereditary bakers , had eight children; the future politician was the second child. Most of Carles’s relatives were not involved in politics, but his great-grandfather, as well as his uncle, Josep Puigdemont ( Cat. Josep Puigdemont ) were mayors of Amer. The future politician received the name Carles in honor of his grandfather Carles Casamajo ( Cat. Carles Casamajó ), who participated in the civil war on the side of the Republicans . In the winter of 1939, at the end of the war, Carles Sr. emigrated to France; At first he kept in touch with his family by mail, but in 1943 letters from him stopped coming. Since that time, there is no information about Puchdemon’s grandfather, he is considered missing ^[11] .

Carles received primary and secondary education at the school of his hometown, as well as at the boarding school at the church of . At 16, he became a correspondent for newspaper, specializing mainly in sports reporting; worked in other periodicals mosquitoes.

After graduation, Puchdemon entered the , where he began to study Catalan philology , however, he soon left there to study journalism ^[10] . In 1981, he began working for the Girona newspaper , later becoming its editor in chief. He also worked for .

In 1994, Puchdemon’s book, Kata ... What? Catalonia in the perception of the foreign press ”( Cat. Cata ... què? Catalunya vista per la premsa internacional ), dedicated to the analysis of the image of Catalonia in foreign media; The collection of material for this book began back in 1988 ^[10] . In 1992, he was an active participant in a campaign in support of the Catalan nationalists detained by the Spanish authorities as part of the so-called ^[10] .

In the 1990s, Puchdemon traveled to Europe, studying new technologies in journalism. In 1999, with the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, he founded the and became its first director. In 2002, he resigned as director of CAS, becoming, at the suggestion of the chairman of the , director of the . In 2004, he became the founder of the monthly English-language magazine ^[10] .

Political career

Since 1983, Carles Puigdemon has been an activist in the Convergence and Union (CiS) political association. In 2006, he left journalism and devoted himself completely to his political career, becoming a deputy of the Parliament of Catalonia from CiS ^[12] . In 2007, he participated in the elections to the local council of the city of Girona , but failed to win them.

In 2011, he was elected mayor of the city of Girona , becoming the first city governor in 32 years who did not belong to the ^[13] . Four years later, he became chairman of the , and was also re-elected to the Parliament of Catalonia as a candidate from the bloc ^[14] .

On January 10, 2016, the Parliament of Catalonia elected Puigdemon President of the Generalitat ^{[15] [16] [17]} . This was made possible thanks to the compromise reached on the eve of the block and the CUP party ^{[18] [19]} . On January 12, 2016, he took office as president, replacing Arthur Mas . On January 14, he introduced the new government of Catalonia, of which he is chairman by default. Upon assuming office, he refused to take the traditional oath of allegiance to King Philip VI , becoming the first head of the Catalan government to take such a step ^[20] . Also, upon taking office, he left the posts of mayor of Girona and chairman of the Association of Municipalities for Independence, since Spanish law prohibits combining these posts with the post of president of the Generalitat ^[20] .

On June 9, 2017, the Government of Catalonia, led by Puigdemon, appointed an independence referendum on October 1 ^[21] . More than 90% of those who voted in favor of Catalonia becoming an independent state with a republican form of government ^[22] . Spanish authorities declared the referendum invalid. On October 10, 2017, Puigdemon signed an instrument of independence, but suspended it for negotiations with Madrid. On October 21, Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy announced that Spain was introducing the 155th article of the Constitution , which suspended the autonomy of Catalonia, as well as its intention to hold early elections in the region (the current government and Puigdemon should resign within a week). Puchdemon himself said in response that he does not accept a similar plan of Madrid ^[23] . On October 26, 2017, Puigdemon passed the decision on the independence of Catalonia to the Parliament of Catalonia. On October 27, 2017, the parliament proclaimed the independence of Catalonia following the results of the vote. On the same day, an official from the Spanish Prosecutor General’s Office announced that criminal proceedings would be launched next week on charges of rebellion, which would punish up to 30 years in prison ^[24] .

On October 30, 2017, Spanish Prosecutor General indicted the rebellion and corruption of Puigdemon and 13 senior officials of Catalonia, demanding their immediate arrest in case of failure to appear in court, but Puigdemon was already in Brussels at the time (according to press reports , he appealed to the Belgian authorities for political asylum ) ^[25] . Nevertheless, appearing on October 31 at a press conference at EU headquarters, Puigdemon said that he did not intend to seek refugee status. ^[26]

In 2018, he founded the new National Call to the Republic movement to unite the separatists of Catalonia ^[27] .

On March 23, 2018, Spanish authorities renewed a European arrest warrant for Puchdemon on charges of incitement to rebellion, rebellion and misuse of budget funds. On March 25, Puchdemon, returning from a trip to Finland , where he met with local parliamentarians, was detained by German police when he crossed the Danish- German border by car ^[28] . On April 5, the Schleswig-Holstein Land Court released Puchdemon from arrest and ruled that he could not be extradited to Spain on charges of rebellion, since in that case he could become the first political prisoner in the European Union ^[29] .

On May 10, 2018, while in Berlin, he announced his refusal to run for president of the Generality of Catalonia in favor of the publisher and president of the Catalan cultural and political association Kim Torra ^[30] .

On July 20, 2018, a Spanish court withdrew an international arrest warrant for Puchdemon ^[31] .

Since 2000, Carles Puigdemon has been married to the Romanian journalist Marcel Ax , the wedding was held in Romania according to the Orthodox rite ^[32] . There are two daughters in their family - Magali ( Cat. Magalí ) and Maria ( Cat. Maria ). In 2017, both girls actively participated in the campaign in support of the independence referendum , which caused an ambiguous reaction in the Spanish press ^[33] .

He speaks Catalan , Spanish , English , French and Romanian . He is fond of new technologies and social networks . He has written over 14,900 posts on Twitter and has over 415,000 followers. ^[20]

• Official site
• Osipov A. “The state is an agreement between people” // Vedomosti, 10/03/2017