Quim Torra

Early life and family Torra was born on 28 December 1962 in Blanes, a town in the Province of Girona in north-eastern Catalonia (Spain). He is the third of four children (three boys and one girl). His family were originally from Santa Coloma de Farners but moved to Blanes where his father, also known as Quim Torra, worked as an engineer at the Sociedad Anónima de Fibras Artificiales (SAFA) plant. The family then moved to Barcelona where Torra's father worked as a manager for SAFA. His parents later returned to Santa Coloma de Farners where his father was a municipal councillor in 1991 and where his widowed mother still lives. When AXA took over Winterthur Torra was offered a position in Madrid but he chose to return to Catalonia to devote himself to journalism and publishing. He has also written articles for the Ara, El Punt Avui, El Temps and Nació Digital. He was director of the Generalitat's Center for Contemporary Subject Studies from March 2016 to October 2017. He is currently working as a lawyer and is a member of the Bar Association of Barcelona. Torra is not a member of any political party and is known to have reservations about certain policies of the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), the main constituent of the pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) electoral alliance. At the election Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority in the Catalan Parliament. Attempts by the secessionists to inaugurate three candidates – Carles Puigdemont, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Turull – as President of Catalonia were thwarted by the Spanish courts. At the investiture vote held on 12 May 2018 Torra secured 66 votes (JuntsxCat 34; ERC–CatSí 32) with 65 votes against (Cs 36; PSC 17; CatComú–Podem 8; PP 4) and four abstentions (CUP-CC 4), failing to achieve the 68 votes necessary for an absolute majority. As a result, a second vote was held on 14 May 2018 at which he only needed a simple majority to become president. The result of the second vote was exactly the same as the first vote – 66 in favour, 65 against and four abstentions – and as a result Torra was elected the 131st President of Catalonia. He was sworn in on 17 May 2018. On 19 May he appointed his government, which included as regional ministers, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull (in preventive custody) as well as Toni Comín and Lluís Puig, in self-imposed exile in Belgium and also required by the Spanish justice. Since article 155 was still in force, Mariano Rajoy decided not to publish the appointments in the Generalitat government gazette, which led to a criminal complaint for prevarication brought by President Torra. In order to avoid extending the application of article 155, on 29 May President Torra appointed a new government, which took office on 2 June, which ended a period of seven months of direct rule on Catalonia from Madrid.

In December 2018, Torra announced a 48-hour fast in solidarity with the prisoners of Lledoners who were carrying out a hunger strike, Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull, Joaquim Forn and Josep Rull.

Controversial writings The tone and content of some articles written by Torra in 2012 criticizing anti-Catalanism and Spain have elicited strong criticism from numerous sectors. Critics have accused Torra of being xenophobic and a supremacist. In an online editorial, he metaphorically described people who live in Catalonia but reject Catalan-nationalism and culture as "beasts" or "scavengers, vipers, hyenas", who have "a little bump in their DNA chain". In addition, several tweets from 2012 that he later removed included sentences like "Spaniards only know how to plunder" and "Spaniards in Catalonia are like energy – they transform themselves but do not disappear".

At European level, the President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group, Hans van Baalen condemned his rhetoric as "separatist and racist" and the Party of European Socialists stated that "his racist remarks are utterly disgusting and cast deep doubts about his fitness for the job". The Catalan chapter of French NGO SOS Racisme also criticized the tone of the articles, but stated they cannot be considered racism. Torra apologised for the tweets after being nominated to be president.

Judicial case and disqualification "Freedom Political Prisoners" (see Trial of Catalonia independence leaders) sign hung at the Barcelona City Hall, a similar one would be hung on the balcony of the Palau de la Generalitat by Torra from June 2018 to March 2019 and again from May to September 2019, when it was ultimately ordered removed by mandamus after Torra's refusal. thumb "Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" sign from March to May 2019 after the previous sign was considered partisan by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. On 19 December 2019, Torra was sentenced by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) to a year and a half of disqualification (inhabilitación) from holding any elected office and/or from exercising government powers, in addition to a fine of €30,000 for disobeying the Central Electoral Board (JEC) by not withdrawing partisan symbols in the Palau de la Generalitat and not guaranteeing the institution's neutrality during the April election campaign. Torra then vowed to appeal the sentence (not firm) to a higher instance, the Supreme Court (TS).

On 3 January 2020 the JEC determined the execution of the TSJC sentence in regards of Torra's electability as member of the Parliament of Catalonia, ruling Torra's disqualification from his parliamentary seat. The JEC left open to interpretation if losing the seat would also entail the disqualification from the post of president of the regional government. Torra appealed again to the TS to clarify the JEC ruling, on whether the electoral authority actually had the authority to strip him of the parliamentary seat. The second appeal before the TS by Torra was turned down.

Enforcing the ruling of the JEC, the Secretary of the Parliament of Catalonia stripped Torra of his status as legislator on 27 January 2020. Torra compelled then the House's Speaker, ERC's Roger Torrent (who had announced he would not take the vote of Torra into consideration) to contempt unless he wanted to "put the institutions at risk", to no success. The Parliament of Catalonia had interpreted the Statute of Catalonia in the sense that the President of the Generalitat could remain in the post, as the status of legislator would be necessary only at the moment of the investiture, so, for the time being and pending the resolution of his appeal before the TS, Torra remains as president of the Catalan Government. Symptoms of collapse of the JuntsxCat–ERC coalition government ensued after Torra's "unseating", with the absence in the votings of the full JuntsxCat bloc vis-à-vis the passing of the Parliament's budget and a defiant Torra, who refrained then from calling a new election, nonetheless. A day after Torra argued that "the (legislative) term had no political future if unity cannot be maintained" and announced his intention to call a new election, but not until the regional budget was passed.

Personal life Torra was married to teacher Carola Miró, who died on 4 May 2024 at the age of 58 from cancer.

Published works Ganivetades Suïsses (2007, Símbol Editors; ) Periodisme? Permetin! La vida i els Articles d'Eugeni Xammar (2008, Símbol Editors; ), biography of Eugeni Xammar El Bibliobús de la Llibertat (Miquel Joseph i Mayol, 2008, Símbol Editors; ) (ed. with Jaume Ciurana) Viatge Involuntari a la Catalunya Impossible (2010, Proa Edicions; ) Honorables. Cartes a la Pàtria Perduda (2011, A Contravent; ) Un Bohemi al Cabaret del Món. Vida de Manuel Fontdevila, un Senyor de Granollers (2013, A Contravent; ) Els Últims 100 Metres : el Full de Ruta per Guanyar la República Catalana (2016, Angle Editorial; ) Muriel Casals i la Revolució dels Somriures (2016, Editorial Pòrtic; )

Electoral history + Electoral history of Quim TorraElectionConstituencyPartyAllianceResult 2017 regional Province of Barcelona Independent Together for Catalonia Elected