Generalitat de Catalunya

The Generalitat de Catalunya ("Government of Catalonia") 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.

History

Medieval origins

The Generalitat of Catalonia descends from the medieval institution which ruled the Principality of Catalonia, within the Crown of Aragon, in the name of the King of Aragon (in a constitutional system some say is the first in Europe (14th century)).

The first Catalan constitutions are of the Corts of Barcelona from 1283. The last ones were promulgated by the court of 1702. The compilations of the constitutions and other rights of Catalonia followed the roman tradition of the Codex.

First abolition

Catalonian institutions which depended on the Generalitat were abolished in what is currently known as Northern Catalonia, one year after the signature of the Treaty of the Pyrenees. Some years later, after the Decretos de Nueva Planta, it was completely abolished in the rest of the territory.

First restoration

The Generalitat of Catalonia was restored in Spanish Catalonia in 1932, during the Second Spanish Republic with Francesc Macià as president. President Macià died in 1933, and the next president was Lluís Companys. After the Spanish right wing won the elections in 1934, the Generalitat of Catalonia rebelled against the Spanish authorities, and was suspended from 1934 to 1936.

Second abolition

In 1939, President Companys marched to exile, but in 1940 he was returned to Francoist Spain by German agents, and was shot at the Castle of Montjuïc in Barcelona.

Second restoration

The succession of presidents of the Generalitat was maintained in exile from 1939 to 1977, when Josep Tarradellas returned to Catalonia and was recognized as the legitimate president by the Spanish government. Tarradellas, when he returned to Catalonia, made his famous remark to Catalans Ja sóc aqui (I'm here, now!), reassuming the autonomous powers of Catalonia, one of the historical nationalities of present-day Spain. After this, the Catalonian autonomy was delineated in conformity with the new Spanish Constitution (1978), with the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia (Estatut d'Autonomia). In 1980, Jordi Pujol was elected president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, leading the center-right nationalist party Convergence and Unity. He was reelected 5 more times, and retired from politics in 2003, after 23 years in office.

Current status

Pasqual Maragall is the current President of the Generalitat (also leader of the Socialist Party, and is backed up by a coalition of left-wing political parties. His party actually won less votes than the CiU party, but as he had more support from other parties in the Generalitat, he was able to form a coalition.

The Catalan Statute is still in force today, and presently under reform, in order to extend and protect Catalonian autonomy (against what the vast majority of the Generalitat see as a centralist backlash from the Spanish government). In newly proposed system defended by some, Catalonia would have sufficient autonomy to have its own representation in the European Union and other more symbolic issues like having its own national sport teams in international competitions, like Scotland, Wales and England. Additionally, Catalonia would be technically a "nation", a term that has created much controversy across the political spectrum in Spain.

An autonomous system of government

The Generalitat is constituted by the Council, the President and the Parliament. Some people wrongly apply this name only to the Council, as if it was the same as Cabinet - however, Generalitat de Catalunya is the (autonomous) Catalan system of government, just like, for example, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the (independent) Luxembourg system of government.

Northern Catalonia

There are no specific Catalan political institutions in Northern Catalonia, in the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales. However, since the 5 September 2003, there is a Casa de la Generalitat in Perpignan, which aim at promoting Catalan culture and facilitating exchanges between Catalans on each side of the French-Spanish border.

The Generalitat of Catalonia also have several offices all around the world in cities such as Sydney, San Francisco, Santiago de Chile and Johannesburg.

The Valencian Autonomous Government is also called Generalitat Valenciana.

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Generalitat de Catalunya".