Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya
| European party | ||
|---|---|---|
| logo | ||
|
||
| Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) | ||
| Distribution: |
 Catalonia
|
|
| Establishment date: | 15th November 1974 | |
| Place of foundation: | Montserrat Monastery | |
| Party President: | Artur Mas i Gavarró | |
| Secretary General: |
Lluís Corominas i Díaz Josep Rull i Andreu |
|
| Members: | ||
| Proportion of women: | ||
| Party structure: | ||
| Youth organization: | Joventut Nacionalista de Catalunya (JNC) | |
| Alignment: | centrist - liberal - secessionist - Catalan nationalism - pro-European | |
| Address: | Còrsega, 331 08002 Barcelona |
|
| Website: | www.convergencia.cat/ | |
| Europe Party : | ALDE | |
| Strength | ||
|
Catalonia : |
29 of 135 seats, | |
 Congreso : |
8 out of 350 seats | |
|
Senado : |
9 out of 259 seats | |
 EU Parliament : |
1 of 785 seats | |
| Government: |
Catalonia (party alliance Junts pel Sí )
|
|
Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya ( CDC , German: Democratic Convergence of Catalonia ) is a liberal regional party in Catalonia that is in the process of dissolution . She ran in elections from 1979 to 2015 in the Christian-democratic-liberal party alliance Convergència i Unió with the Unió Democràtica de Catalunya . This party alliance was dissolved in June 2015.
The CDC has been a member of the European Liberal, Democratic and Reform Party since May 14, 2005 ; in the 8th legislative period 2014–2019 it has a member in the European Parliament , and this was also in the previous 6th (2004–2009) and 7th parliamentary term . (2009–2014) legislative period so.
In the course of a far-reaching corruption affair, 67% of the members voted in a ballot on May 21, 2016 in favor of founding a new party and thus for the dissolution of the CDC. This new party was founded following the last CDC party conference on July 9 and 10, 2016 under the name Partit Demòcrata Europeu Català . The CDC will continue to exist legally for a transitional period.
history
The party was founded in 1974, before Franco's death , by Jordi Pujol , who headed it until 2003. Since 1979 the party alliance with the Unió Democràtica de Catalunya existed . The party alliance was able to win the first democratic regional elections and ruled continuously, sometimes with coalition partners, until 2003. Before the 2003 elections, Pujol resigned from his political offices. The new chairman was Artur Mas , who was able to win a relative majority in the elections but could not find a coalition partner.
In the election for the Catalan regional parliament on September 27, 2015 , the CDC ran together with the left-wing ERC in the Junts pel Sí alliance . This electoral alliance - although planned for a long time - was not re-launched for the 2015 election to the Spanish parliament . The CDC stood there together with the Demòcrates de Catalunya party (split from the UDC) and the small party Reagrupament Independista (which stood together with the ERC in 2011) under the name Democràcia i Llibertat (DL). The new alliance only achieved 15.08% in Catalonia and eight seats. That left it behind the ERC, which got 15.98% and nine seats.
3% donation scandal
Since 2012 it has been assumed that Spanish companies, primarily construction companies such as ACS , FCC , but also motorway licensees such as ( Abertis ), pharmaceutical companies ( Grupo Ferrer ) and companies for drinking water supply ( Cespa , Sorea ) donate large amounts to one of the CDC related company, paid to Trias Fargas for party financing. The company Trias Fargas , renamed CatDem after the Palau scandal in 2009 , has received over the years from various companies mostly 3% of a state contract awarded by the ruling CDC party. It is therefore assumed that this party financing is a system of bribery and thus corruption that goes back a long way and has been maintained until today (2015). The Spanish anti-corruption authority found evidence of this practice in October 2015 and relies on statements made by the President of the Ortiz Group , Joan Maria Pujals, a former advisor to the Catalan governments under Jordi Pujol . The Grupo Ortiz confessed that it paid 400,000 euros to the CDC in 2010 in order to finally be given contracts in the Catalan construction sector.
On January 17, 2016, the Guardia Civil announced that there were large sums of donations, up to 3.4 million in donations, in an account of the party's own CatDem foundation. Of this, funds up to an amount of almost two million as 3% donations were received from the public construction sector. The construction company Teyco from Barcelona is mentioned here in particular, which has received construction contracts from the CDC for construction work in the public and infrastructure sector.
On January 19, 2016, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported on its online portal that the Guardia Civil found amounts of 2.2 million in the party-affiliated foundations, at CatDem, Òmnium and Fundació Fòrum Barcelona . It is believed that these 3% donations from the construction companies were primarily used to finance the Catalan independence movement . In the report is a table with details of the companies and donation amounts. Listed Blue Green Village , Teyco, Copista Constructora Pirinaica , Grup Soler Constructora , Soler Energy Services , Soler Global Services and Electromecánica Soler .
In the meantime it became known that a Catalan entrepreneur made generous donations to the party-affiliated CatDem Foundation of the Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (500,000 EUR) and to the UDC (100,000 EUR) in return for public contracts. Gustavo Buesa , also known in Catalonia as the Catalan Garbage King, was arrested by the Civil Guard and Anti-Corruption Agency on July 13, 2016 on charges made against him . It is also linked to allegations of corruption against the Pujol family .
On March 8, 2017, Spanish media reported that the former president of the Palau de la Mùsica (Palace of Catalan Music) Felix Millet testified in court that Ferrovial donated large sums to the party to illegally finance the party and received public construction contracts in return. This illegal procedure was confirmed by the CFO of the Palau, Gemma Montull , the daughter of the former administrative director. The bribe of 4% was split: 2.5% for the party and the rest was shared by former administrative director Jordi Montull and Felix Millet . When asked by the court why 4% had previously been paid 3%, Montull replied because the party had asked for more money. A total of 3.7 million from the budget of the Palau de Música were paid out in cash to the treasurers of the CDC.
Convictions
On January 15, 2018, the sentence was announced at Caso Palau: The CDC was sentenced to repayment of 6.6 million euros that it had received as irregular donations from Ferrovial in return for government construction contracts. Daniel Osàcar, the former treasurer of the CDC, was sentenced to four years and five months in prison for money laundering, ongoing nepotism and falsified balance sheets. In July of the same year, the CDC was charged with nepotism , corruption and money laundering by the public prosecutor José de la Mata of the Audiencia Nacional , who had investigated the 3% scandal .
Web links
- Official Website (Catalan)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Website of the youth organization: www.jnc.cat/
- ↑ Election of September 27, 2015.
- ↑ Vincenzo Capodici, "Junts pel Sí": On the way to independence for Catalonia. In: Tages Anzeiger. September 26, 2015.
- ↑ Elecciones Generales 2015 ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ El caso de las donaciones millonarias pone bajo sospecha a Convergència. In: El País . accessed on November 6, 2015.
- ↑ Una empresa pagó 400,000 euros a CDC para entrar en el mercado catalán. In: El País. November 6, 2015.
- ↑ CDC cobró 1.8 million del 3% durante el mandato de Artur Mas. In: El Mundo. 17th January 2016.
- ↑ El 3% sirvió para financiar a los grupos independentistas. In: El Mundo online. January 19, 2016, accessed January 20, 2016.
- ^ "El 'rey de la basura' reconoce que financió a CDC ya Unió". In: El Mundo of July 25, 2016
- ↑ Millet confiesa la financiación ilegal de CDC sin apuntar a altos cargos. In: El País. March 8, 2017, Retrieved March 8, 2017 (Spanish).
- ↑ El ex número dos del Palau dice que las comisiones pasaron del 3 al 4% porque "CDC pedía más dinero" and otras cinco noticias. In: El Mundo. March 9, 2017, Retrieved March 9, 2017 (Spanish).
- ↑ Montull: “Vam passar del 3 al 4% perquè Convergència volia més diners”. In: El País. March 9, 2017, Retrieved March 9, 2017 (Catalan).
- ↑ "CDC, condenada por el cobro de comisiones ilegales en el caso Palau." In: eitb.eus (Spanish) from January 15, 2018 on January 12, 2019
