Union of the Centre of Catalonia ( ca, Unió de Centre de Catalunya, UCC) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

based in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, created in March 1978 as a result of the merger of

Catalan Centre Catalan Centre ( ca, Centre Català) was a Spanish political party of the Catalan region born during the Spanish transition to democracy in 1976. It was part of the Union of the Centre and Christian Democracy of Catalonia (UCiDCC) in the 1977 Span ...

, League of Catalonia–Catalan Liberal Party, Union of the Christian Democrats of Catalonia–Jacques Maritain Club, most of the

Social Democratic Party of Catalonia The Social Democratic Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit Social Demòcrata de Catalunya, also ''Partit Socialdemòcrata de Catalunya'', PSDC) was a political party in Catalonia, led by Jaume Casanovas and defining itself as left liberal, that split fr ...

and Party of the Catalan People. The party was led by Carles Güell as president and Joaquim Molins as secretary-general.

History

The Union of the Centre of Catalonia was formed in March 1978 by the merger of a number of political parties supportive of establishing closer ties with the Union of the Democratic Centre: the

, the Union of the Christian Democrats of Catalonia–Jacques Maritain Club—a split from the

Democratic Union of Catalonia The Democratic Union of Catalonia ( ca, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya; , UDC), frequently shortened as Union ( ca, Unió; ), was a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party in the Catalonia region of Spain existing between 1931 and 2017 ...

(Unió)—the Party of the Catalan People, members from the League of Catalonia–Catalan Liberal Party and most of the

. Immediately after its foundation, the party sought a merger with the UCD, which resulted in an electoral agreement being signed for the first democratic local elections; subsequently, a UCD–UCC platform—often referred to as a "liaison political committee"—would be established in June 1978 to oversee the planned merger process. Later, the expulsion of Unió deputy Antón Cañellas because of his support of the UDC–UCC bloc would see the formation of the Democratic Union–Broad Centre (UDCA) in November and its subsequent incorporation into the joint centrist platform, paving the way for the formation of the "Centrists of Catalonia" electoral alliance. Having been initially supportive of the merger, UCC started drifting away from the new political space over differences with the planned organizational structure of the new party—which it saw as too presidential-centered around the figure of Cañellas—as well as with the limitations on its political autonomy in favour of a greater subordination to the national UCD party. The party's leadership under secretary-general Joaquim Molins attempted to have the merger congress delayed in order to be able to negotiate these issues, but the UCC chose not to attend the congress, ultimately leading to its decision in January 1980 to cancel the merger process with the UCD–UDCA. UCC would refuse to field any candidates in the

1980 Catalan regional election The 1980 Catalan regional election was held on Thursday, 20 March 1980, to elect the 1st Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This was the first regional election to be held in C ...

—granting support to

Democratic Convergence of Catalonia The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia ( ca, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya; , CDC), frequently shortened as Convergence ( ca, Convergència; ) was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain), currently still exist ...

(CDC) lists instead—leading Güell and other members to leave the party in disagreement with Molins's leadership. The party would maintain close ties with CDC, first with Molins joining the Catalan Minority Group in the Congress, and then with an agreement in September 1980 for the incorporation of the party into CDC, which would be formalized in the last UCC congress held in March 1981.

Electoral performance

Cortes Generales

References

{{reflist 1978 establishments in Catalonia 1981 disestablishments in Catalonia Defunct political parties in Catalonia Political parties established in 1978 Political parties disestablished in 1981