Francesc Homs: from the party’s ‘bone’ to the Government’s ‘bone’

Barcelona (ACN).- Despite not being officially a Minister of the Government and having the rank of a Deputy, Homs is de facto one of the most important members of the new Catalan Government. The new Secretary General of the Presidency will be the President’s right-hand man. Homs will define the main policies with Mas. He will coordinate all the Government Ministries. He will directly control some important areas and will be the Government’s only spokesperson. Together with another half-dozen people, Homs has been at Mas’ right-hand in the party. He was probably Mas’ closest collaborator regarding political initiatives. For instance, Homs was the person within the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) who, in 2005, wrote and negotiated the Catalan Statute of Autonomy (a sort of Catalan Constitution). In fact, it could be said that Homs is the CiU’s main ideologue. For instance, he is the one who linked the idea of self-determination to getting a new economic agreement with Spain regarding fiscal redistribution. He also coordinated the CiU’s electoral programme for the last Catalan elections. Therefore, it was very clear that Homs would be in a key position within the new Catalan Government. His name was suggested as a possible Minister for Home Affairs, Justice or Presidency, if the position were created. In his current position, Homs becomes the Government’s back-bone and President Mas’ number two; a situation that all the Government members, including the Vice President Ortega, understand.

Francesc Homs was born in Vic, in Central Catalonia, in 1969. He graduated in law from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He started working in the private sector: firstly in a food distribution company, then in a financial institution, in a lawyer’s firm and in a consultancy. He started to be involved in politics when he joined the Student National Federation of Catalonia (FNEC). In fact, the others at Mas’ right-hand, Mas’ innermost circle, which has been popularly known as “the bone”, were also members of the FNEC. The main names are Francesc Homs, David Madí and Oriol Pujol, the son of the CiU’s renowned leader and Catalan President, Jordi Pujol. These three men form Mas’ innermost circle, although some others could also be added to “the bone”, such as Germà Gordó or Lluís Coromines. In fact, “the bone” helped Mas to become CiU leader around 2001, and to consolidate his power. “The bone” has Mas’ full trust and they are, by far, his closest collaborators. In fact, Mas himself confessed that he does not have many friends and it is publicly known that he has a very limited circle of collaborators. Homs is his policy man.

Francesc Homs is a militant of Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya, the Liberal wing of the two-party Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition, Convergència i Unió (CiU). He is a member of the party’s National Executive (the party’s governing body) and its permanent secretariat (the daily affairs management body). He developed the last Catalan election programme and he also managed the campaign for the last European elections. Homs is also the CDC’s Executive Secretary for Projects, Studies and Programmes and he is in charge of Mas’ trans-party project to unify the different pro-Catalan sensitivities, called the “Great House of Catalanism”.

Francesc Homs started to be a public figure when the CiU was in the opposition, in 2003. Then, he became a member of the Catalan Parliament. He was the CiU’s chief negotiator of the new Statute of Autonomy, which was first approved by the Catalan Parliament in 2005. Later, in the last term, when the Left-Wing Government Coalition was negotiating the current economic agreement with Spain regarding fiscal redistribution, he was chosen to defend the CiU’s stance. In fact, Homs has become an expert in the matter. This year he wrote a book called ‘Dret a decidir, estació concert’ (Right to Decide: Economic Agreement Station), in which he combined the right of self-determination with the need for another economic agreement that would ensure greater economic resources for Catalonia. Homs thesis was that Catalonia should decide how much money it gives to the rest of Spain in terms of solidarity. This should not be decided by the Spanish Government. He wrote a previous book on his experience negotiating the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, which was brought to the Constitutional Court by the Conservative and Spanish Nationalist People’s Party (PP) and other organisations and institutions. It was called ‘Catalunya a judici’ (Catalonia to Court), and was published in 2008.

Now, Homs comes back to the Catalan Government, where he already worked between 1996 and 2003 in several positions. The new Secretary General for the Presidency was General Director for Interdepartmental Affairs, in the Ministry for the Presidency. He was in charge of Government coordination and transversal issues. He was also a member of the Executive Commission of the Economic and Social Committee of Catalonia (CTESC).