1359, GENERALITAT DE CATALUNYA FIRST INCEPTION

Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona

Today, The Grandma has been visiting some of the most emblematic sites of Barcelona. It is a very beautiful city with hundreds of years of history totally visible on its buildings, its streets and, of course, in the idiosyncrasy of its people.

The Grandma has wanted to visit El Palau de la Generalitat, site of the Catalan Government, an ancient institution whose first inception was dated on a day like today in 1359.

The Government of Catalonia or the Generalitat de Catalunya is an institution politically organised. It consists of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Executive Council of Catalonia.

The Parliament of Catalonia unilaterally declared independence from Spain on 27 October 2017 as the 'Catalan Republic'. In response then Spanish Prime Minister decided to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia and to call a snap regional election for 21 December 2017, after which a new Parliament and a new Catalan government was elected. The independence declaration was turned down by the Constitutional Court, and members of the Catalan government, including the president Carles Puigdemont, fled to Belgium claiming to be the legitimate government of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

More information: Catalan Government

Catalonia's political past as a territorially differentiated community having its own representative and separated institutions, with respect to the sovereign power of the combined Catalan counties (988-1164), the Crown of Aragon (1164-1516), the Monarchy of Spain (1516-1808) and of the Spanish constitutional state (since 1812), can be divided into four stages, separated by three great ruptures in the legal/public order.

Pau i Treva de Déu / Peace and Truce of God was a social movement promoted in the eleventh century as the response of the Church and the peasants to the violences perpetrated by feudal nobles. The hometowns, then, delimited a protected space of feudal violence. However, to ensure a coexistence climate, it was necessary to go further, establishing an authority that prohibited the practice of any type of violent act anywhere in the territory. This was the objective of the assemblies of Peace and Truce of God, the first of which, in the Catalan counties, took place in Toluges (Roussillon), in 1027, under the presidency of Abbot Oliba, on behalf of Bishop Berenguer d'Elna, absent from the diocese because he was on a pilgrimage. The origin of the Catalan Courts can be considered from the Peace of Truce of God.

MHP Pau Claris, killed

The Generalitat of Catalonia stems from the medieval institution which ruled, in the name of the King of the Crown of Aragon, some aspects of the administration of the Principality of Catalonia. 

The Catalan Courts were the main institution of the Principality during its existence as a political entity, and approved the Catalan constitutions. The first constitutions were that of the Courts of 1283.

The medieval precedent of the Generalitat, the Diputació del General de Catalunya / Deputation of the General of Catalonia, where General means the political community of the Catalans and not the military rank was a permanent council of deputies established by the Courts in order to recapt the new tax of the General in 1359, and gained an important political power during the next centuries, assuming tasks of prosecutor. It was chosen by the legislators in 1931 because they felt it was appropriate for invoking as a legitimising base for contemporary self-government.

Catalan institutions which depended on the Generalitat were abolished in what is currently known in Catalonia as Northern Catalonia, one year after the signature of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in the 17th century, which transferred the territory to French sovereignty.

Then, by the early 18th century, as the Nueva Planta decrees were passed in Spain after the Catalan defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession, the institution was abolished in the Spanish territory as well.

More information: Generalitat de Catalunya

The Generalitat was restored in the Catalonia under Spanish administration in 1931 during the events of the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic when Francesc Macià, leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia, declared the Catalan Republic on 14 April but later reached an agreement with the Spanish ministers, in which the Catalan Republic was renamed Generalitat de Catalunya and given its modern political and representative function as the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.

The restored Generalitat was ruled by a statute of autonomy approved by the Spanish Cortes and included a parliament, a presidency, a government and a court of appeal. It was presided by Francesc Macià (1931-1933) and Lluís Companys (1933-1940).

Macià (exiled), Sunyol (killed) & Companys (executed)

After the right wing coalition won the Spanish elections in 1934, the leftist leaders of the Generalitat of Catalonia rebelled in October of that year against the Spanish authorities, and it was temporarily suspended from 1934 to 1936.

In 1939, as the Spanish Civil War finished with the defeat of the Republican side, the Generalitat of Catalonia as an institution was abolished and remained so during all the Francoist dictatorship until 1975.

The president of the Generalitat at the time, Lluís Companys, was tortured and executed in October 1940 for the crime of military rebellion. Nonetheless, the Generalitat remained its official existence in exile, led by presidents Josep Irla (1940-1954) and Josep Tarradellas (1954-1980).

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 often quoted remark Ciutadans de Catalunya: ja sóc aquí / Citizens of Catalonia: I am back!, reassuming the autonomous powers of Catalonia.

After this, the powers given to the autonomous Catalan government according to the Spanish Constitution of 1978 were transferred and the Estatut d'Autonomia was passed after being approved both by referendum in Catalonia and by the Spanish parliament.

The most recent President of the Generalitat of Catalonia was Carles Puigdemont, member of the Catalan European Democratic Party. He was suspended from office on 27 October 2017, by the Spanish government.

After a number of attempts to invest a new president, Quim Torra became president on the 17th of May 2018.

More information: Departament de la Presidència

The autonomous government consists of the Executive Council, the President and the Parliament. Some people wrongly apply this name only to the executive council, the cabinet of the autonomous government; however, Generalitat de Catalunya is the system of Catalan autonomous government as a whole.

The Generalitat holds exclusive and wide jurisdiction in various matters of culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments. In many aspects relating to education, health and justice. The Generalitat has got its own police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra..

Josep Irla & Josep Tarradellas, MHPs in exile

The legal system is uniform throughout the Spanish state, with the exception of some parts of civil law  -especially family, inheritance, and real estate law- that have traditionally been ruled by so-called foral law. The fields of civil law that are subject to autonomous legislation have been codified in the Codi Civil de Catalunya consisting of six books that have successively entered into force since 2003.

Another institution stemming from the Catalan autonomy statute, but independent from the Generalitat in its check and balance functions, is the Síndic de Greuges (the ombudsman) to address problems that may arise between private citizens or organizations and the Generalitat or local governments.

The Parlament de Catalunya is the legislative body of the Generalitat and represents the citizens of Catalonia. It is elected every four years by universal suffrage, and it has powers to legislate in different matters such as education, health, culture, internal institutional and territorial organization, election and control of the president of the Generalitat and the Government, budget and others, according with the Statute of Autonomy.

The president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, in Catalan president de la Generalitat de Catalunya, is the highest representative of Catalonia, and is also responsible of leading the government's action.

The Executive Council, in Catalan Consell Executiu, or Government (Govern), is the body responsible of the government of the Generalitat, it holds executive and regulatory power. It comprises the president of the Generalitat, the First Minister or the Vice President and the Ministers (consellers). Its seat is the Palau de la Generalitat, in Barcelona.

 More information: Parlament de Catalunya

Catalonia is not recognized as a sovereign state by any sovereign state. However, as Catalonia has progressively gained a greater degree of self-government in recent years, the Catalan Government has established nearly bilateral relationships with foreign bodies. For the most part, these relationships are with the governments of other powerful subnational entities such as Quebec or California. In addition, like most Spanish autonomous communities, Catalonia has permanent delegations before international organizations, such as the European Union.

More recently, Catalonia has embarked upon an expansion process of its international representation by opening a number of delegations worldwide. As of 2017, these exceeded 40. Most of these offices are located in major world cities like London, New York City, Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo and others. Each office has specific duties assigned by their ministry or department agency. Generally, the functions of these are the representation of specific interests of the Government of Catalonia, trade and foreign investment, Catalan culture and language support, tourist promotion and international cooperation activities.

There are no specific Catalan political institutions in Northern Catalonia, other than the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales. However, since 5 September 2003, there has been a Casa de la Generalitat in Perpignan, which aims to promote the Catalan culture and facilitate exchanges between each side of the border.

More information: Museu d'Història de Catalunya

We cannot say no to what

has already been approved by the citizens.

Carles Puigdemont