The Socialists' Party of Catalonia (, PSC–PSOE) is a

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

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

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, resulting from the merger of three parties: the Socialist Party of Catalonia–Regrouping, led by Josep Pallach i Carolà, the Socialist Party of Catalonia–Congress, and the Catalan Federation of the PSOE. It is the Catalan instance of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), and its Aranese section is Unity of Aran. The party had also been allied with federalist and republican political platform Citizens for Change (''Ciutadans pel Canvi'') until the 2010 election. PSC–PSOE has its power base in the Barcelona metropolitan area and the '' comarques'' of Tarragonès,

Montsià Montsià () is a comarca (county) of the Terres de l'Ebre region, in Catalonia (Spain). It is the southernmost comarca and its capital and largest city is Amposta. History Almost all Montsià municipalities are part of the Taula del Sénia fre ...

, and Val d'Aran.

Party leaders

First Secretaries

* Joan Reventós, 1978–1983 * Raimon Obiols, 1983–1996 * Narcís Serra, 1996–2000 * José Montilla, 2000–2011 * Pere Navarro, 2011–2014 * Miquel Iceta, 2014–2021 * Salvador Illa, 2021–present

Presidents

* Joan Reventós, 1983–1996 * Raimon Obiols, 1996–2000 * Pasqual Maragall, 2000–2007 * José Montilla, 2007–2008 ''(acting)'' * Isidre Molas, 2008–2011 * Àngel Ros, 2014–2019 * Núria Marín, 2019–2021 * Miquel Iceta, 2021–present

Political positions

Economic and social issues

Environment

The party advocates for the preservation of the natural environment by implementing sustainable development strategies that promote economic advancement and the welfare of everyone.

Market

The Socialists' Party of Catalonia promotes individual initiative, entrepreneurial freedom, and innovation within the context of a socially accountable market.

= Social issues

= The PSC is considered progressive in their views and they support movements like

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, lgbtq+ rights or antiracism. They are considered to be pro-immigration.

Foreign policy

European Union

The PSC promotes the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and its expansion to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. They believe in a reform policy in the goal to achieve an inclusive and cohesive society.

National identity and the territorial question

The PSC is considered to be a catalanist party and as such it defends the nature of Catalonia as a

nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

, and uses the word "country" to refer to Catalonia in public regularly. However, the PSC is openly against Catalan independence and proposes a federalist solution to the Catalan territorial question, seeking to build a federal Spanish State with guaranteed recognition for the nationhood of Catalonia, further devolution to the Catalan Government and the official recognition of Spanish multilingualism. They largely adhere to the territorial project of their associate, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, but they are considered to be the most federalist and peripheral nationalist in their political space. Because of this position they are considered to occupy a central position in Catalan politics which allow them to form coalitions with both openly pro-independence parties such as ERChttps://www.socialistes.cat/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Acord-PSC-ERC.pdf or Junts and more hardline pro-Spanish parties like the PP. Despite this, the PSC, given its origins as a big-tent merger of all Catalan social-democrats, has a diversity of opinions when it comes to the Catalan national question, with some sectors being considered more overtly Catalan nationalist and some others more clearly Spanish unionist but always within the framework of catalanism and Spanish federalism that the party advocates for.

Language policy

The Socialists' Party of Catalonia advocates for a catalan-favoring

language policy Language policy is both an interdisciplinary academic field and implementation of ideas about language use. Some scholars such as Joshua Fishman and Ofelia García consider it as part of sociolinguistics. On the other hand, other scholars such as ...

and the promotion of the usage of the

catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

. As such, they are in favor of catalan immersion in schools, a catalan-dominated linguistic landscape and the bettering of knowledge and public usage of the catalan language. The first Minister for Linguistic Policy of the history of the Catalan Government was nominated by the party, albeit following an agreement with the Republican Left of Catalonia. They mainly use Catalan in their messaging and governments that they participate in or lead usually pass pro-catalan language legislation. Despite this, they have a large Spanish-speaking voting base and therefore the Spanish language is also used by the party in political rallies. Given this dualism they are considered to be less commited to the language question than pro-independence parties or parties like Catalunya en Comú.

Electoral performance

Parliament of Catalonia

Cortes Generales

European Parliament

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Socialists' Party of Catalonia 1978 establishments in Spain

Political parties established in 1978 Social democratic parties in Spain Socialist parties in Catalonia