Puigneró, the most digital advisor

The until now vice-president and top leader of Junts en Government, Jordi Puigneró (Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1974) has been the head of the Turk in the latest crisis between the members of the Catalan Executive on account of Junts per Catalunya's request for a question of confidence in President Pere Aragonès if he does not comply with the agreement he signed in May 2021.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
28 September 2022 Wednesday 16:30
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Puigneró, the most digital advisor

The until now vice-president and top leader of Junts en Government, Jordi Puigneró (Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1974) has been the head of the Turk in the latest crisis between the members of the Catalan Executive on account of Junts per Catalunya's request for a question of confidence in President Pere Aragonès if he does not comply with the agreement he signed in May 2021.

He was the only minister who knew of the intentions of the party leadership, and for that reason he was dismissed last night. He was Minister of the Generalitat for the first time in 2018 in the Government led by Quim Torra, as Minister of Digital Policies and Public Administration, after having previously been part of the administration, in the sottogoverno.

From the ranks of the Joventut Nacionalista de Catalunya (JNC) and Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC), an engineer by profession and a specialist in information technology and the digital field, he also held positions in the City Council of his city before giving the jump to the Generalitat.

In the last elections to the Parliament, in February 2021, he sounded like a possible candidate and as chosen by former President Carles Puigdemont to lead JxCat, but finally he did not appear in the primaries in which Laura Borràs prevailed over the then Minister of Territory and Sustainability , Damià Calvet. On the 14-F list he was seventh for Barcelona.

After the refusal of some members of the leadership of Junts such as Elsa Artadi and Josep Rius, also close to Puigdemont, to enter the Government, he ended up being the strong man of Junts in the Catalan Executive with the portfolio of Digital Policies and Territory and the vice presidency

As Minister, he has insistently demanded the complete transfer of Rodalies and has worked so that the entire Catalan territory has a good internet connection with fiber and 5G network.

After his dismissal, the former president of the Generalitat and of Junts stressed that "the loyalty that matters is loyalty to Catalonia" and that "Puigneró has always demonstrated this, and for years." “Others will not be able to say the same when they have to leave office. Thank you Vice President for the work and for having laid the foundations for the country's digital sovereignty, ”said Puigdemont, offering him his support, something that his training also did.

However, in his formation there were those who considered that it was not the appropriate profile and the name of other leaders for the vice presidency had been considered in some gossip before this latest crisis broke out. In the end, it has been the escalation of tension between the two partners that has ended up displacing him from the Consell Executiu, which he led and chaired for the first time just a week ago due to Aragonès' trip to New York.

In the Puigdemont Government he was secretary of Telecommunications, Cybersecurity and Digital Society and presided over the Information Security Center and coordinated the defense of the cyberattack suffered by the Generalitat during the consultation of 9-N 2014. He also participated in the change of acronyms CDC and the transition to the PDECat, although this space was later discontinued in 2020.

Puigneró, a great mountain lover, began his political career in the JNC in 1999 and in 2003 became part of the municipal executive of Convergència i Unió in Sant Cugat as chief of staff to the historic convergent mayor Lluís Recoder.

In 2004 he presented an amendment, which prospered with the opposition party leadership, to ask that CDC not support the European Constitution if the officialdom of Catalan was not recognized, and in 2005 he became a councillor. He went on to be second deputy mayor and leader of Convergència in the Vallesana city. His first position in the administration of the Generalitat was with Artur Mas in 2013, as director general of Telecommunications and Information Society.