President of the Generalitat of Catalonia

The president of the Generalitat of Catalonia (in Catalan, president of the Generalitat de Catalunya; in Occitan, president dera Generalitat de Catalonha) holds the highest representation of the Generalitat and the ordinary representation of the State in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Likewise, he directs and coordinates the action of the autonomous government. He is chosen by the autonomous Parliament from among its deputies and appointed by the King of Spain.

The current president of the Generalitat of Catalonia is Pere Aragonès, appointed by the king on May 22, 2021 and who took office on the 24th of that month, after being sworn in by an absolute majority of the Parliament of Catalonia.

Appointment

The election of the president of the Generalitat is established in articles 152.1 of the Spanish Constitution and article 67.2 of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, and is displayed by articles 49 et seq. of law 3/1982 as well as by articles 127 and 128 of the regulation of the Parliament of Catalonia of 2005. In the election of the president there are 3 clearly specified phases:

• 1.a phase: once the autonomous elections are held and the Parliament has resigned, passed away or lost a question of confidence by the regional president, the president of the Parliament of Catalonia conducts a round of consultations with the different representatives of the political groups and proposes a candidate for the presidency of the Generality, which is obligatory to be a member of the Parliament.
• 2.a phase: the proposed candidate, if he accepts the designation, has to expose the government program that seeks to form and request the confidence of the regional parliament, in a plenary session called "debate de investidura". At the end of the debate, the vote was taken, in which the candidate was investigated, provided that he obtained a number of affirmative votes equal to or greater than the absolute majority of the chamber. In case of not getting it, it would go to a second round, two days later where the candidate would be invested by a simple majority. In the case, that the candidate had not gained the confidence of the parliament in any of the two rounds, the president of the regional parliament would have to present new candidates successively with the maximum term of two months. After that time without investigating a president, parliament is self-dissolved and new elections are called.
• 3.a phase: the president of parliament, in case a proposed candidate has been chosen, must communicate the decision of the parliament of Catalonia to the king of Spain. Within 5 days, the king, who is the only one who has such a faculty, must appoint him as the autonomous president of Catalonia, with the good looks of the president of the government.

Termination

The causes for cessation of functions of the president of the Generalitat are established by article 59 of law 3/1982 and articles 129 and following of the regulation of the Parliament of Catalonia of 2005. The causes for cessation of the president are:

• The adoption of a motion for censorship, which in the event of admission to proceedings, proceeds to the holding of a debate in which the president and the candidate proposing the matter can intervene. In the case of approval, the president is dismissed, just like the rest of the government and the candidate explicitly proposed in the motion is invested as new president.
• For the denial of a motion of trust, in which, after a previous debate, if the President is denied confidence, he is ceased in conjunction with the other members of the Government.
• Dimission.
• Because of the notorious physical and mental incapacity recognized by the Catalan Parliament and which disqualifies the president from exercising his functions.
• For death.

In the penultimate and last case, the president of the Parliament of Catalonia assumes the functions of the president of the Generalitat, and must prepare the elections of a new Catalan Parliament for the election of a new president.

List of presidents

Presidents of the Generalitat of Catalonia since 1977

Legislature	Government	President of the Generality of Catalonia			Start of mandate	End of mandate	Notes
Pre-autonomic (1977-1980)		1.°		Josep Tarradellas	17 October 1977	8 May 1980	See notes After the restoration of the Generality, he is appointed president of the General Assembly by the Government of Adolfo Suárez.
I (1980)	Pujol I	2.°		Jordi Pujol Representative of Barcelona	24 April 1980	30 May 1984	See notes Member of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia within the list of Convergence and Union. He took office as a result of the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia in 1980 and repeated his legislature in the following elections of 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995 and 1999.
II (1984)	Pujol II				30 May 1984	22 June 1988
III (1988)	Pujol III				22 June 1988	9 April 1992
IV (1992)	Pujol IV				9 April 1992	16 December 1995
V (1995)	Pujol V				16 December 1995	16 November 1999
VI (1999)	Pujol VI				16 November 1999	16 December 2003
VII (2003)	Maragall	3.°		Pasqual Maragall Representative of Barcelona	16 December 2003	24 November 2006	See notes Mayor of Barcelona (1982-1997). Member of the Party of the Socialists of Catalonia, accesses the post as a result of the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia of 2003/small/2005
VIII (2006)	Montilla	4.°		José Montilla Representative of Barcelona	24 November 2006	23 December 2010	See notes Member of the Party of the Socialists of Catalonia, accesses the post as a result of the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia of 2006
IX (2010)	More I	5.°		Artur Mas Representative of Barcelona	23 December 2010	21 December 2012	See notes Member of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia within the list of Convergence and Union. He takes office as a result of the 2010 elections to the Parliament of Catalonia and repeats in the next 2012 legislature.
X (2012)	Mas II				21 December 2012	12 January 2016
XI (2015)	Puigdemont	6.°		Carles Puigdemont Representative of Barcelona	12 January 2016	28 October 2017	See notes Member of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia within the list of Junts pel Yes. He takes office as a result of the 2015 elections to the Parliament of Catalonia.
Suspension of autonomy				Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría assumed the competencies as Vice-President of the Government of Spain	28 October 2017	17 May 2018	See notes Cowboy. Functions and powers suspended by the president of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, and delegated to the vice president of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría following the application of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution.
XII (2017)	Torra	7.		Quim Torra Representative of Barcelona	17 May 2018	28 September 2020	See notes Eleventh candidate for the Barcelona constituency, where he was chosen with the list of Junts per Catalunya. He takes office as a result of the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia in 2017. Disqualified by a judgement of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia for disobedience ratified on 28 September 2020 by the Supreme Court.
		8.°		Pere Aragonès Representative of Barcelona	30 September 2020 (in functions)	24 May 2021 (in functions)	See notes Member of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya in the elections of February 14, 2021. He takes office as a result of the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia of 2021.
XIII (2021)	Aragonès				24 May 2021	Position

Timeline