Joana Ortega i Alemany

Who is Joana Ortega i Alemany?

Joana Ortega i Alemany is the vice president of the government of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Minister of Government and Institutional Relations. She has also been a deputy at the Parliament of Catalonia since 2006. She is the first woman who has occupied the seat of vice president.

She has a degree in psychology from Barcelona's Abat Oliba CEU University

Since 2006, Ortega has been a member of Parliament, being elected chairwoman of the Committee on the Catalan Corporation for Audiovisual Media, 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 district 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.