Àngels Martínez Castells

Àngels Martínez i Castells (9 May 1948 – 1 September 2024) was a Spanish economist and politician in Catalonia. From 2015 to 2017 she represented Barcelona in the Parliament of Catalonia.

Àngels Martínez Castells
Castells in 2011
Member of the Parliament of Catalonia
In office
26 October 2015 – 28 October 2017
Parliamentary groupCatalunya Sí que es Pot
ConstituencyBarcelona
Personal details
Born(1948-05-09)9 May 1948
Mollet del Vallès, Spain
Died1 September 2024(2024-09-01) (aged 76)
Occupation
  • Economist
  • Politician

Life and career

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Castells was born in Mollet del Vallès.[1] She attended the University of Barcelona, where she graduated with a doctorate in economics, having previously also studied commerce, philosophy, literature, and law.[2] Her thesis was directed by Fabián Estapé, in which she studied governance in Portugal following the Carnation Revolution.[2]

After her PhD, Castells became a professor of economic policy in the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of Barcelona.[1] In 1999 she became the first woman candidate of EUiA in the elections to the European Parliament representing the PCC in the IU-EUiA candidacy and in 2004 she was second in the ICV-EUiA candidacy led by Raul Romeva but was not elected.[3]

In 2000, Castells was the Vice President of the Pere Ardiaca Foundation.[4]

Castells was a founding member of the United and Alternative Left, a Catalonian political party.[1] She served for years as a member of the National Council of that party.[1]

Castells ran for European Parliament for the United and Alternative Left in 1999, and in 2004 she was again on the United and Alternative Left ticket, but she was not elected.[5]

In 2009, Castells co-founded, and then chaired, the public health platform Dempeus per la Salut Pública.[6] In 2013, she was elected to the Scientific Council of the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and for Citizens' Action.

In May 2015, Castells was ranked in the 32nd place on the party list of the Barcelona en Comú in the municipal elections.[7] In July 2015, she was elected in a primary election to hold the second position on the list of Podemos for the Catalonian parliamentary elections.[8] After the coalition Catalunya Sí que es Pot was formed, she was also highly placed on the resultant party list, and she was elected to the Parliament of Catalonia where she served until 2017.[9]

Castells died on 1 September 2024, at the age of 76.[10]

Controversy

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In the session of 7 September 2017 in which the Parliament was voting on the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic, the deputies of Citizens and the People's Party of Catalonia left their seats in protest against the discussion, which, according to these parties, implied a violation of the Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy, and left Spanish and Catalan flags on their seats. Castells got up from her seat and removed the Spanish flags, leaving the Catalan flags. This controversial gesture, which was reprimanded by the president of the chamber, Carme Forcadell, was reported in the press.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Àngels M. Castells. "El hallazgo del concepto de género". nodo50 (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b Albano Dante Fachin Pozzi (May 2014). "Àngels Martínez Castells" (PDF). Cafè Ambllet. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  3. ^ Liste, Ana González (7 August 2015). "Catalunya Sí que es Pot ficha a una activista de la sanidad pública". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  4. ^ "la Fundació Pere Ardiaca" (in Spanish). Pere Ardiaca Foundation. 1 January 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  5. ^ Liste, Ana Gonzáles (7 August 2015). "Catalunya Sí que es Pot ficha a una activista de la sanidad pública". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  6. ^ "La Prórroga de los Presupuestos "da largas" al combate contra la desigualdad, según Dempeus per la Salut Pública". Catalunya Press (in Spanish). 12 February 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Lista completa" (in Spanish). Barcelona en Comú. 2015. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  8. ^ "La economista Àngels Martínez Castells será la segunda en la lista de Podem". El Periódico (in Spanish). 14 July 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Vídeo: una diputada de Podemos retira las banderas de España que colocó el PP". El Español (in Spanish). 6 September 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  10. ^ Mor Àngels Martínez Castells, l'activista que va treure les banderes espanyoles del Parlament (in Catalan)
  11. ^ Una diputada de Podem retira las banderas españolas que dejó el PP en el Parlament (in Spanish)
  12. ^ Àngels Martínez (Podem) considera a Puigdemont "presidente de la república" (in Spanish)