Convergence and Union

▪ political party, Spain

Catalan  Convergència i Unió (CiU) 

      political party that supports greater autonomy for Catalonia within Spain.

      The CiU was established in 1978 as an alliance between the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (Convergència Democrática de Catalunya) and the Democratic Union of Catalunya (Unión Democrática de Catalunya). In 1977, as the Democratic Pact (Pacte Democràtic), the two parties had contested Spain's first democratic elections after the death of longtime dictator General Francisco Franco (Franco, Francisco). The party also includes the small Catalan Democratic Left Party (Esquerra Democrática Catalunya). An ideologically centrist and nationalist political party, the CiU has attracted widespread Catalan support. From 1980 to the early 21st century, the CiU formed Catalonia's autonomous government (the Generalitat), many times with an outright majority, and had success in elections to the Cortes (Spanish legislature).

      For most of the 1980s and '90s, the CiU and Jordí Pujol i Soley, the president of Catalonia from 1980 to 2003, supported the national government led by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which in return agreed to generous tax transfers to the Catalonian government. However, in 1994, demanding that greater autonomy and more powers be devolved to Catalonia, the CiU withdrew support from the PSOE in the Cortes. In 1996 the CiU joined the Basque Nationalist Party in supporting the minority administration formed by the conservative Popular Party. The CiU won the most seats in the regional elections in 2003, but it failed to form a coalition government. The party generally supports greater European integration and adopts conservative positions on economic policy.

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