# Catalan Alliance

Catalan Alliance (Catalan: Aliança Catalana) is a right wing political party in Catalonia. It is a Catalan pro-independence, and ultranationalist party, that also opposes immigration and is against the use of the Spanish language in Catalonia. It is currently the governing party of the municipality of Ripoll. At the 2024 Catalan regional election, the party entered the Parliament of Catalonia for the first time, with two seats.

## History

The party was founded in 2020 by Ripoll Councilor Sílvia Orriols, who left the National Front of Catalonia (FNC) due to her opposition to moderating the party's stance on immigration. All FNC members in Ripoll joined Orriols in forming the Catalan Alliance.
In May 2023, the party won the municipal elections in Ripoll, receiving the most votes in the town and obtaining six councilors. On 12 June, the other political forces in the municipality of Ripoll tried to make a pact to prevent Catalan Alliance from governing the municipality, but Together for Catalonia (Junts) ultimately did not participate in the agreement and Orriols was invested as mayor on 17 June 2023.
In the other two municipalities where the party ran, they obtained two more councilors, one in Manlleu and another in Ribera d'Ondara. In the latter municipality, the party's representative, Albert Puig, became mayor in 2024 following a no-confidence motion against the minority government of Francesc Sabanés of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC). Elisabet Jové of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) became the new mayor, but she stepped down shortly after assuming the role due to maternity leave, handing the mayoralty to Puig. Puig will hold the position for four months, until Jové returns from maternity leave, and governs with the support of councilors elected under the ERC banner. After the agreement between Catalan Alliance and the ERC was announced, ERC leadership severed all ties with the Ribera d'Ondara branch of the party.
On 25 March 2024, Orriols confirmed that Catalan Alliance would be presenting a list for the 2024 Catalan regional election, with Orriols as the lead candidate. Ahead of the elections, PSC, ERC, Junts, Comuns Sumar, and Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) announced that they would not enter into any coalition agreement with Catalan Alliance or Vox. The party would ultimately win two seats in the election, entering the Parliament of Catalonia for the first time as the smallest party. The party would win Ripoll and the surrounding municipalities of Les Llosses, Campdevànol, and Gombrèn, all of which border Ripoll. In Ribera d'Ondara, Catalan Alliance would finish second behind Junts.

## Ideology

Catalan Alliance is generally considered to be far-right on the political spectrum.
The party stands for a security policy of zero-tolerance on crime, linking it to illegal immigration. It stands for deporting all irregular migrants and applying stricter requirements to immigrate legally to Catalonia as well as promoting anti-Muslim rhetoric, with party leader Sílvia Orriols stating that Muslims "do not integrate in our country but rather they attack our rights and freedoms". Orriols claims that Islam is incompatible with western values and has called for the closure of mosques and bans on the burqa in public.
On international affairs, Catalan Alliance is soft eurosceptic, saying that being part of the EU has good as well as bad consequences. It stands that Catalonia should remain in the EU but keeping that "Catalans haver interests, not friendships in Europe", so that the aim should be to negotiate agreements and policies according to Catalan interests, instead of accepting and having to adapt to anything coming from Brussels. Diplomatically, the party "supports the free world", showing support for Israel. It also aims the creation of a military for Catalonia in case of becoming an independent State.
The party, overwhelmingly Catalan nationalist, has criticized bilingualism in Catalonia, with prominent member Jordi Aragonès stating that newcomers usually learn Spanish instead of Catalan, and that knowing Catalan language should be a condition to live in Catalonia. Furthermore, the party states Catalan should be the only official language in Catalonia and that Spanish should be an optional subject at schools.
On cultural issues further than language, Catalan Alliance is liberal-conservative in outlook, stating that defending western values and Catalan traditions is necessary to accomplish a free, tolerant and respectful society. On that line, Catalan Alliance is moderate on social issues such as LGBTQ rights or feminism, defending equality of recognized rights and before the law while opposing any kind of discrimination, neither traditional or positive. On issues like abortion, euthanasia, drug legalisation or AI the party has no official position.
When it comes to economic issues, the party is quite economically liberal. It calls for cuts on public spending and for a reduction of both burocracy and public sector intervention on the economy, along with slight tax cuts for low and middle incomes as well as for small and medium businesses. It also pretends to scrap other taxes such as the tax on inheritance. In contrast to all those economically liberal standings, Catalan Alliance also advocates for protectionism of local companies.

## Electoral performance
### Parliament of Catalonia

| Election | Leading candidate | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
| 2024 | Sílvia Orriols | 118,302 | 3.79 (#8) | 2 / 135 | 2 | Opposition |

### Municipalities

| Data | Catalonia | Catalonia | Catalonia |
| Data | Votes | % | Seats |
| 2023 | 1,806 | 0.06 | 8 / 9,139 |