Joana Ortega i Alemany (born 13 November 1959 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

) was the vice president of the government of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Counsellor of Government and Institutional Relations from 2010 until 2015. She has also been a deputy at the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia ( ca, Parlament de Catalunya, ; es, Parlamento de Cataluña; oc, Parlament de Catalonha) is the unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 mem ...

from 2006 to 2015. She was the first woman who has occupied the seat of vice president. She has a degree in psychology from Barcelona's

Abat Oliba CEU University Abat is a community in the former Shalë municipality, Shkodër County, northern Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Euro ...

(UAO CEU) Since 2006, Ortega has been a member of Parliament, being elected chairwoman of the Committee on the Catalan Corporation for Audiovisual Media (CCMA), the government-owned radio and TV holding. From 2002 to 2003 she headed the Catalan Institute for Women, the Catalan government's agency promoting gender equality, and the Catalan National Women Council, its civil society outreach branch. Since 2010, she has served as deputy prime minister and minister for government affairs and institutional relations. In local politics, Ortega was a member of Barcelona City Council from 1996 to 2007. During that period, she was executive council member for the

Eixample The Eixample (; ) is a district of Barcelona between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and what were once surrounding small towns (Sants, Gràcia, Sant Andreu, etc.), constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its population was 262,000 at t ...

district (the area built in the 19th century, which includes among others Gaudi's Sagrada Familia) and vice president of Proeixample, a local council-owned company devoted to urban renewal. She also served as fourth vice president of the Barcelona County Council, and ruling coalition CiU's spokesperson at Barcelona Local Councils Federation and at the Barcelona Connurbation Council. Ortega appeared in court in Barcelona on 13 October 2015, to face criminal charges of having assisted in the organisation of the

2014 Catalan self-determination referendum A non-binding Catalan self-determination referendum, also known as the Citizen Participation Process on the Political Future of Catalonia, was held on Sunday, 9 November 2014, to gauge support on the political future of Catalonia. While also ref ...

, which the Spanish courts deem illegal. Fellow ministers

Artur Mas Artur Mas i Gavarró (; born 31 January 1956) is a Spanish politician from Catalonia. He was president of the Government of Catalonia from 2010 to 2015 and acting president from September 2015 to 12 January 2016. Mas is a long time member of D ...

and

Irene Rigau Irene Rigau i Oliver is a Catalan politician from Spain, born in Banyoles (Pla de l'Estany County) in 1951.High Court of Justice of Catalonia The High Court of Justice of Catalonia ( ca, Tribunal Superior de Justícia de Catalunya, TSJC) is the highest body and last judicial instance of the Spanish judiciary in Catalonia. Unlike the Parliament of Catalonia (legislative branch) or the ...

condemned Artur Mas, Joana Ortega and Irene Rigau to fines and were barred from office between 18 and 24 months. Although they were acquitted of charges of misappropriation of public funds, The Court of Auditors has also been judging them as accounting officers for the referendum preparations and claims 5,2 million euros.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortega, Joana 1959 births Living people Members of the Parliament of Catalonia 21st-century Spanish politicians 21st-century Spanish women politicians Vice Presidents of Catalonia Spanish politicians convicted of crimes