Jéssica Albiach

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Albiach and the second or maternal family name is Satorres.

Jéssica Albiach
MP
Jéssica Albiach in 2024
Member of the Parliament of Catalonia
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 October 2015
ConstituencyBarcelona
Personal details
BornJéssica Albiach Satorres
(1979-05-29) 29 May 1979
Valencia, Spain
PartyCatalunya en Comú (since 2017)
Other political
affiliations		Podemos (2014–2023)
ResidenceBarcelona
Alma materCEU Cardinal Herrera University
Occupation
  • Journalist
  • politician
  • photographer

Jéssica Albiach Satorres (Valencian pronunciation: [ˈdʒesika albiˈak]; born 29 May 1979)[1] is a Spanish journalist and politician. A member of Catalunya en Comú and formerly Podemos, she was elected to the Parliament of Catalonia in 2015. She has also led the En Comú Podem and Comuns Sumar coalitions.

Early life and education

Jéssica Albiach was born in Valencia. She studied journalism at CEU Cardinal Herrera University. Albiach had a six-month Erasmus stint at KU Leuven in Belgium. Soon after, she studied photography and took a course in Anthropology at the National University of Distance Education, which she did not finish. She moved to Prague to dedicate herself to photography, and on returning, she taught the Catalan language to immigrants for Caritas Internationalis.[2]

Career

Albiach was seventh on the list of Catalunya Sí que es Pot, a Podemos-led electoral coalition, in the Barcelona constituency during the 2015 Catalan regional election.[3] She was one of 11 deputies elected by the coalition to the Parliament of Catalonia, becoming its fourth power.[4] In October 2015, Albiach was chosen as one of two spokespeople for En Comú Podem ahead of national elections in December.[5]

In the 2017 Catalan regional election, Catalunya en Comú–Podem ran with Xavier Domènech in first and Albiach in third for the Barcelona constituency.[6] The group lost three seats, ending up with eight in parliament, and fell to being the fifth largest force.[7] In September 2018, after the exit of Domènech, Albiach was elected as En Comú Podem's leader in the Catalan parliament.[8]

On 27 February 2020, Albiach received the backing of mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau to lead the party in the 2021 Catalan election.[9] It retained its eight seats, with a drop in percentage of vote and going from the fifth to sixth largest group in the parliament. Albiach called for a three-party left-wing government with the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).[10] She ended negotiations with the ERC as the latter would not write off a deal with Junts.[11]

On 5 December 2023, Albiach quit Podemos, as the party had separated from Catalunya en Comú, making joint membership impossible.[12]

In the 2024 Catalan regional election, Albiach led Comuns Sumar, who fell from eight to six seats.[13] Her party cast the crucial votes that installed Salvador Illa of the PSC as President of the Government of Catalonia, signing a deal to increase social housing and tram networks, as well as stop a large Hard Rock Cafe casino from being built.[14]

Political views

Albiach has criticised unilateral measures by the Catalan independence movement, such as the 2017 independence referendum, as being counter-productive for the movement.[15] She proposes a regulated referendum as the solution to the debate.[16]

In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests, Albiach supported the removal of the Monument to Christopher Columbus in Barcelona, saying that "we have nothing to celebrate on 12 October (Spain's national day, based on the date of Columbus's arrival in the Americas)".[17]

In the 2021 regional election campaign, Albiach proposed further devolution of power to Catalonia, including in the sectors of housing, railways, immigration, and dialogue with the European Union.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Jéssica Albiach". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). 21 November 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  2. ^ Hinojosa, Silvia (9 February 2019). "Jéssica Albiach, la diputada que perseguía tortugas" [Jéssica Albiach, the deputy who followed tortoises]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  3. ^ Pitarch, Sergi (26 September 2015). "Poder valenciano en los partidos catalanes" [Valencian power in the Catalan parties]. Levante-EMV (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  4. ^ Álvarez, Aitor (18 November 2015). "Qui són i d'on vénen els 11 diputats de Catalunya Sí que es Pot?" [Who are the 11 deputies of Catalunya Sí que es pot and where do they come from?]. El Critic (in Catalan). Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  5. ^ Pérez Colomé, Jordi (10 October 2015). "Podem crea una dirección colegiada sin grandes figuras de cara al 20D" [Podem creates an executive without big names with an eye to 20 December]. El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  6. ^ "La lista de Catalunya en Comú-Podem para las elecciones del 21-D" [Catalunya en Comú-Podem's list for the 21 December elections]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 20 December 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  7. ^ "Catalunya en Comú-Podem pierde tres escaños y pasa del cuarto al quinto lugar en votos" [Catalunya en Comú-Podem loses three seats and goes from fourth to fifth place in votes] (in Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  8. ^ "El grupo de los comuns nombra a Jèssica Albiach presidenta del grupo en el Parlament" [En Comú name Jéssica Albiach group leader in the Catalan parliament] (in Spanish). Europa Press. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Colau ya tiene candidata para la Generalitat" [Colau already has a candidate for regional president] (in Spanish). Economía Digital. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  10. ^ Silvia, Quílez (14 February 2021). "En Comú Podem resiste en Cataluña con ocho escaños y llama a formar un tripartido de izquierdas" [En Comú Podem resists in Catalonia with eight seats and calls to form a three-party left-wing government] (in Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  11. ^ "Els comuns trenquen la negociació amb ERC per l'acord de mínims independentista" [En Común breaks off negotiations with ERC for the least independentist agreement] (in Catalan). VilaWeb. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  12. ^ "Jéssica Albiach, la líder parlamentaria de los comunes, se da de baja de Podemos" [Jéssica Albiach, parliamentary leader of Catalunya en Comú, leaves Podemos] (in Spanish). La Sexta. EFE. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  13. ^ Romero, Alexis (12 May 2024). "Comuns Sumar pierde dos escaños pero será llave para un gobierno de izquierdas en Catalunya" [Comuns Sumar lose two seats but will be the key to a left-wing government in Catalonia]. Público (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  14. ^ "Illa i Albiach signen el pacte d'investidura al barri de Sant Ildefons, a Cornellà" [Illa and Albiach sign the investiture pact in the Sant Ildefons neighbourhood in Cornellà]. elBaix.cat (in Catalan). 4 August 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
  15. ^ Cortázar, Ander (16 December 2017). "Jessica Albiach, número tres de Catalunya En Comú Podem" [Jéssica Albiach, Catalunya En Comú Podem's number three]. El Boletín (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  16. ^ a b Gil Grande, Rocío (12 February 2021). "Diálogo, referéndum, DUI o federalismo: ¿Qué modelo territorial propone cada partido este 14F?" [Dialogue, referendum, unilateral declaration of independence or federalism: What territorial model is each party proposing this 14 February?] (in Spanish). RTVE. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  17. ^ Bassas, Antoni (13 June 2020). "Jéssica Albiach: "Desmuntar l'estàtua de Colom seria una bona mesura"" [Jéssica Albiach: "Taking down the statue of Columbus would be a good idea"]. Ara (in Catalan). Retrieved 8 February 2021.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jéssica Albiach.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.