Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 in the context of "Generalitat of Catalonia"

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situated on the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. Catalonia is administratively divided into four provinces or eight vegueries (regions), which are in turn divided into 43 comarques. The capital and largest city, Barcelona, is the second-most populous municipality in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in the European Union.

Modern-day Catalonia comprises most of the medieval and early modern Principality of Catalonia, with the remainder of the northern area now part of France's Pyrénées-Orientales. It is bordered by France (Occitanie) and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, and the Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon to the west and Valencia to the south. In addition to its approximately 580 km of coastline, Catalonia also has major high landforms such as the Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees, the Transversal Range (Serralada Transversal) or the Central Depression. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan.

A vegueria (Catalan pronunciation: [bəɣəˈɾi.ə]), plural vegueries, is the highest-level regional division of Catalonia. Each vegueria is further divided into comarques and municipalities. As of 2025, the Catalan Vegueries Law [ca] divides the territory into eight vegueries. The autonomous Aran Valley, considered a "unique territorial entity", is not part of any vegueria.

The vegueries system is based on the feudal administrative territorial jurisdiction of the vegueríes "vicariates" of the Principality of Catalonia, which was abolished with the Nueva Planta decrees of 1716. Preceding the vegueries is the division into ‘functional territorial areas’ in 1995, now mostly identical to the vegueries, except for the merger of the Val d'Aran and Alt Pirineu into a single Alt Pirineu i Aran region for statistical purposes. The current administrative division was established by the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 with two functions: an inter-municipal government and the arrangement of the services from the Generalitat de Catalunya.

The Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒənəɾəliˈtad də kətəˈluɲə]; Spanish: Generalidad de Cataluña; Occitan: Generalitat de Catalonha), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Government of Catalonia, and the Executive Council of Catalonia (or council of ministers, also very often referred to as Govern, "Government"). Its current powers are set out in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006.

The origins of the Generalitat are in the 13th century when permanent councils of deputies (deputations) were created to rule administration of the Courts of the different realms that formed the Crown of Aragon which gave birth to the Deputation of the General of the Principality of Catalonia (1359), the Deputation of the General of the Kingdom of Aragon (1362) and the Deputation of the General of the Kingdom of Valencia (1412). The modern Generalitat was established in 1931, as the institution of self-government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic. After the end of the Civil War in 1940 the President was executed and the Generalitat abolished. Notwithstanding, the presidency went into exile until it was reestablished in 1977.

The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia (Catalan: Estatut d'Autonomia de Catalunya; also Statute of Sau, Estatut de Sau, after the location where the statute was first made) is a constitutional law defining the nationality of Catalonia as an autonomous community within the Kingdom of Spain. It was promulgated on 18 September 1979. It is one of seventeen such statutes granted, in various forms and capabilities, to the different autonomous communities of Spain since the Spanish transition to democracy of the 1970s.

On 18 June 2006 a referendum approved the adoption of a new statute that expanded the authority of the Catalan government which had been passed by the Spanish Parliament. It became effective on 9 August 2006, replacing the Statute of 1979.