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41-839: It is one of the bodies that the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia stipulates as part of the Generalitat de Catalunya , others being the Parliament , the Govern or Executive Council , the Council for Statutory Guarantees , and the Catalan Ombudsman ( Síndic de Greuges ). The current president is Salvador Illa of the Socialists' Party of Catalonia , who won a plurality in the 2024 Catalan regional election and formed

82-608: A referendum . The referendum approved the Statute, the "yes" side receiving 74% of votes cast. The voter turnout was 49.41% of the total electorate , an unprecedentedly low figure for this type of vote. The new Statute has been in force since 9 August 2006. Catalonia is an Autonomous Community within the Kingdom of Spain , with the status of nationality in the Spanish Constitution of 1978 . In September 2005,

123-463: A general debate. Moreover, the president must coordinate the legislative agenda of its government, the elaboration of general normatives and give all the information that Parliament may decide to request. Referendums Local Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia Referendums Local The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 ( Catalan : Estatut d'Autonomia de Catalunya ) provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations under

164-866: A landslide victory. This fact led its leader, Francesc Macià , to proclaim the Catalan Republic within the Federation of Iberian Republics few hours before the proclamation of the Spanish Republic and the formation of the Provisional Government of the Catalan Republic, chaired by himself. Within three days of government, Macià received the visit of the Spanish ministers Fernando de los Ríos , Marcelino Domingo and Lluís Nicolau d'Olwer . After lengthy negotiations,

205-606: A nation. We decide ). In 1919, a first project of Statute was started by the Commonwealth of Catalonia although it was rejected by Spanish Cortes Generales . In 1928, a project of Constitution was written in Havana by exiled Catalan nationalists. Catalonia first obtained a Statute of Autonomy in 1932 , during the Second Spanish Republic . This law was abolished by General Francisco Franco after

246-531: A referendum to decide whether Catalonia should become an independent state from Spain. By September 2013, polls show different numbers according to the surveyor. According to the Spanish Agency (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas), there would be 40.6% of Catalans in favor of independence and 25.7% in favor of achieving more self-government, while 17.6% would be happy in the current situation and 9.1% of them would prefer to have less autonomy. According to

287-462: A result of the internal tensions within the party which this issue had brought to the surface. Later on both parties, for opposite reasons, supported a no vote in the referendum held afterwards regarding the passing of the new Statute . The president of Catalonia , Pasqual Maragall , decided that Sunday 18 June would be the date on which the text would be put to the Catalan people in the form of

328-696: A sort of cultural war waged by "Spanish nationalists" ( espanyolistes in Catalan ). In response, four of the six political parties in the Catalan parliament ( Convergence and Union , the Catalan Socialists , Republican Left of Catalonia , and Catalan green party ), which that represented 88% of the popular, agreed to fight together in the Spanish Senate to reform the Constitutional Court of Spain to try to keep overturn of

369-604: The COPE (Catholic radio network) and the Madrid-based newspapers El Mundo and La Razón . On 21 January 2006, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Catalan Leader of the Opposition Artur Mas arrived at a pre-agreement about nation definition and financing in the current project of statute. On 10 May 2006, the amended text passed through its final reading through both Houses of

410-413: The Catalan media establishment. They quote the unprecedentedly high abstention in the referendum regarding the Statute as a symptom of those cited sectors being out of sync with the populace at large. On the opposite side, Catalan nationalists, such as CiU , Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), or CUP , think that the Statute does not give Catalonia sufficient self-government after it was modified by

451-489: The Constitutional Court of Spain . They claim the Statute that was brought to referendum differed substantially from the one the Constitutional Court delivered on points considered key by these parties, starting the first massive Catalan demonstrations in favor of the Catalan independence . The Statute has been legally contested by the surrounding Autonomous Communities of Aragon, Balearic Islands, and

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492-547: The Parliament , with the support of all parties except both the Spanish main opposition party, the conservative People's Party, and the Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya . The latter voted against the project in the Spanish Congress of Deputies but abstained in the Senate (to avoid a blocking vote). ERC voted against it, despite its senior members having had a hand in drafting its content, as

533-640: The Parliament of Catalonia approved the definition of Catalonia as a 'nation' in the preamble of the new Statute of Autonomy (autonomous basic law). The 120 delegates of all parties (CiU, PSC, ERC, ICV-EA) with the exception of the 15 delegates of the Partido Popular approved this definition. In the opinion of the Spanish Government this has a 'declaratory' but not a 'legal' value, since the Spanish Constitution recognises

574-600: The Socialist Union of Catalonia ; Martí Esteve, from Catalan Action , and Pere Coromines, an independent. The preliminary draft was completed at the Hotel of the Vall de Núria on 20 June 1931. In the referendum on the draft Statute , held on 2 August 1931, involved around 75% of the electorate, and obtained 99% of votes in favor. In addition, it was supported by more than 400,000 signatures of Catalan women (then without

615-541: The Spanish Civil War , largely because Catalonia had been a region generally opposed to Franco's Nacionales forces. During periods of his rule, public usage of the Catalan language and culture, and more specifically, Catalan self-government were harshly suppressed. . In 1979, during the Spanish transition to democracy , the second Statute was approved by referendum. On 18 June 2006, a referendum amending

656-617: The Spanish Congress of Deputies approved the admission to formality of the Proposal for reform of the new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia with the support of all the groups except the People's Party (PP) . The latter filed an objection of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court of Spain , which ruled unconstitutional 14 articles of the original text. Its constitutionality has also been contested by some intellectuals and journalists related to liberal or conservative media such as

697-462: The Spanish Constitution of 1978 . It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia , the political institutions of the Catalan community, their competences and relations with the rest of Spain , and the financing of the Government of Catalonia . This Law was approved by referendum on 18 June 2006 and supplanted the first Statute of Sau , which dated from 1979. The approval

738-659: The Spanish Parliament on 9 September 1932. It was implemented until the occupation of Catalonia by the Nationalist Army during the last stages of the Spanish Civil War , in 1939. The local elections of 12 April 1931 represented good results for leftist and republican parties and the establishment of the Spanish Republic . In Catalonia, the newly formed party Republican Left of Catalonia (Catalan: Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya , ERC), won

779-556: The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979 to further expand the authority of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia's government, was approved, and became effective on 9 August 2006. This referendum was noted for its voter turnout being below 50%. It was also noted for its uneasy coalition forging. Tensions within the coalition government which originally promoted the Statute led to an early regional election in 2006 . The "Draft of New Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia of 2005"

820-486: The Statute of Núria , was the first implemented statute of autonomy for Catalonia , officially providing self-government to Catalonia for the first time in more than 200 years. The Statute was promoted by the then acting President of the Generalitat , Francesc Macià and approved in a referendum by 99% of Catalan voters. The draft Statute was completed on 20 June 1931 in Núria ( Ripollès , Girona ) and finally approved in

861-510: The Catalan Agency (Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió), in the event of a referendum there would have been 55.6% of Catalans in favor of independence and 23.4% of them voting against it. The remaining percentages in either poll were still undecided. More recent polls in 2017 have suggested that support for independence has gone down slowly and steadily from its peak in 2012–13, with only 41% in favor of independence vs 49% against it. Regardless of

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902-543: The Catalan Statute of Autonomy. The pact was particularly interesting because, aside from the fact that they all pertain to various degrees of Catalan nationalism , the four parties differ greatly in political ideology and together form nearly 80% of the Catalan Parliament . However, this attempt was largely unsuccessful. After four years of deliberations, the Constitutional Court of Spain assessed

943-553: The King. The president is member of the Catalan government and leads and coordinates it. He selects and may dismiss the ministers, call for a meeting of the Executive Council, and act as its chairman. Further, he signs decrees accorded by the Executive Council and orders them to be published. He can also call for an extraordinary meeting of the Catalan parliament which, given the case, can be ordered to be dissolved or hold

984-546: The Parliament . The Statute of Núria was relatively short-lived. The Parliament of Catalonia, however, saw an important legislative activity in order to deploy and consolidate the recently acquired self-government, as it was the case of the Statute of Internal Regime, passed on 25 May 1933. It was in force from their approval until after the victory of the CEDA in the general elections of 1933, and subsequent issues that lead to

1025-658: The President accepted some guidelines in exchange for a statute of autonomy for Catalonia. As part of the compromise, the Catalan Republic was renamed Generalitat of Catalonia (Catalan: Generalitat de Catalunya ), led by Macià as acting president. On 28 April 1931 the Spanish Council of Ministers passed a decree establishing the provisional composition of the Generalitat: the Government or Council, composed by

1066-588: The President and the ministers, and the Provisional Deputation of the Generalitat (Catalan: Diputació Provisional de la Generalitat). The Provisional Deputation, made up of representatives of Catalan municipalities, and the Government appointed a commission in charge of the redaction of the draft of the statute of autonomy. It was chaired by Jaume Carner and included Antoni Xirau, from the Republican Left of Catalonia; Rafael Campalans, from

1107-429: The Spanish Republic; in addition, the preambule also offered the possibility of a future self-determination for the Catalan people. The draft established Catalan as the official language of Catalonia. This claims were not well accepted by the rest of Spain, so the clause was amended. In addition, the drafted Statute gave to the Generalitat of Catalonia an extensive list of powers hitherto unthinkable, as were powers in

1148-531: The Spanish State or executives. The Generalitat holds jurisdiction in various matters of culture, education, health, justice, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety, and local governments. Catalonia has its own police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra , although the Spanish government keep agents in the region for matters relating to border control, terrorism and immigration. Most of

1189-460: The Spanish State, politically organized into the Generalitat of Catalonia. Catalan became an official language in Catalonia, alongside Spanish. On 20 November 1932 the first election to the Parliament of Catalonia was held. The Republican Left of Catalonia won a large majority of seats, and Francesc Macià was confirmed as President of the Generalitat . Lluís Companys was elected president of

1230-484: The State and with the autonomous communities of Spain that Catalonia shares interests with. The President is also responsible for calling for elections (which must be done at least every four years) and appointing the regional ministers (officially called consellers ) and other high offices as stipulated by law. As ordinary representative of the State in Catalonia, he promulgates laws in the autonomous community in name of

1271-645: The Valencian Community, as well as by the Partido Popular (then the main opposition party at the Spanish Parliament). The objections are based on various topics such as disputed cultural heritage but, especially, on the Statute's alleged breaches of the "solidarity between regions" principle in fiscal and educational matters enshrined by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 . The Catalan political arena largely viewed this debate as

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1312-494: The constitutionality of the challenged articles and its binding assessment was released on 28 June 2010. By a 6 to 4 majority, the Court's justices rewrote 14 articles and dictated the interpretation for 27 more, mainly those relating to language, justice and fiscal policy. The judgement reassured that the term "nation" used in the preamble has no legal standing. It also abolished all the mechanisms that had been put in place to minimize

1353-575: The distortionary effects of the existing Spanish tax and transfer system. The legitimacy of the decision has been widely questioned in Catalonia: the term of three of the twelve members of the Court had already expired when a decision had been made; a fourth member had died and the Spanish Parliament had not appointed any successor. Following the decision of the Constitutional Court, Catalan public opinion grew increasingly favorable to hold

1394-408: The field of education, health, public order, and the creation of a Catalan parliament and a high court of justice . The parliamentary procedures in the Spanish Parliament cut the initial project, calling it overly ambitious and pretentious. The text approved by the Spanish Parliament on 9 September 1932, considerably amended, consisted in 18 articles, defining Catalonia as an autonomous region of

1435-466: The first unionist government in Catalonia since 2010. The president is elected by the Parliament of Catalonia and appointed by the King of Spain . The office has both representative and governmental functions. The president holds the highest representation of the Generalitat and the ordinary of the State in the autonomous community. He is also in charge of the domestic relations with the other bodies of

1476-598: The indissoluble "unity of the Spanish Nation". The Generalitat de Catalunya is the institution in which the self-government of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament , the President of the Generalitat , and the Executive Council or Government of Catalonia . The Statute of Autonomy gives the Generalitat of Catalonia the powers that enable it to carry out the functions of self-government. These can be exclusive, concurrent, and shared with

1517-521: The justice system is administered by Spanish judicial institutions. The legal system is uniform throughout Spain, with the exception of so-called " civil law ", which is administered separately within Catalonia. The main goal of the new Statute of Autonomy was the consolidation and the further devolution of powers to Catalonia, most notably: Spanish nationalist political parties, such as Cs and PP have pointed out what they describe as an "identity obsession" amongst Catalan nationalist politicians and

1558-456: The polls, when it came to the referendum, where, despite an estimated 770,000 votes being confiscated by the police, the voters overwhelmingly supported independence: 90.18% voting in favor, and only 7.83% voting against (however, with a voter turnout of just 43%). Principality of Catalonia Modern Catalonia Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1932 Referendums Local The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1932 , also called

1599-482: The right to vote). Thus, the first draft of the autonomous status granted to a Spanish region was approved overwhelmingly popular. Following a failed coup of General Sanjurjo , the Spanish Cortes Generales approved the Catalan Statute on 9 September 1932. The drafted Statute included 52 articles and a preambule. One of the main points is the definition of Catalonia as an autonomous state within

1640-503: Was a reform proposal regarding Catalan self-government. On 30 September 2005, the Catalan Parliament approved (with the support of 120 deputies to 15) a proposal for reform of the current Statute of Autonomy . The approved proposal was sent for review and discussion to the Cortes Generales (Spain's parliament) on 2 November 2005. After receiving the proposal drafted by the Catalan regional parliament, on 2 November 2005

1681-643: Was given by the 36% of Catalan people with the right to vote. Abstention in the referendum was high: more than 50%. On 28 June 2010, the Constitutional Court of Spain assessed the constitutionality of several articles of the Law, rewriting 14 of them and dictating the interpretation for 27 more. That led to a massive demonstration in Barcelona of more than a million people under the slogan in Catalan Som una nació. Nosaltres decidim ( transl.  "We are

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