Valencian generalitat
The Generalidad Valenciana (currently officially called Generalitat and, until 2006, Generalitat Valenciana/Generalidad Valenciana) is "the group of of self-government institutions» of the Valencian Community, in Spain.
The Valencian Cortes (or Corts Valencianes, or simply Corts), the President and the Council of the Generalitat of Valencia form part of it. Also institutions of the Generalitat are the Audit Office, the Ombudsman, the Valencian Council of Culture, the Valencian Academy of Language, the Consultative Legal Council of the Valencian Community and the Economic and Social Committee of the Valencian Community.
The historical background, from which it takes its name, was the Diputació del General (Diputació del General) that arose in the second half of the century XIV as a delegated commission of the Cortes of the Kingdom of Valencia or Corts in charge of administering the tax called generalities , hence it will also be known by the name of Generalitat. It was in 1418 when it was configured and became a permanent organ. It was made up of six deputies —two for each braç—, assisted by a series of officials: clavarios, administrators, accountants, etc. It was abolished by Felipe V's Decree of Nueva Planta of 1707.
The institution, very different from the historical Diputación del General del Reino de Valencia, was recovered in 1982, after approving the corresponding Statute of Autonomy.
History
The Diputació del General or Generalitat (1418-1707)
The antecedent of the Diputació del General or Generalitat were the commissions appointed by the Cortes of the Kingdom of Valencia or Corts of 1329 and 1342 -43 to collect the donatiu ('donation': extraordinary tax) approved therein and which will be dissolved once this mission is accomplished. In the Cortes of 1362-1362 the tax of the generalities was approved, whose denomination is due "as well as being collected generally and indistinctly from all as well as being imposed throughout the kingdom" and from which comes the Diputació del General is also known as Generalitat. "Generalities are indirect taxes levied on the import, export and purchase and consumption of various products. [...] These taxes fall on skins, wool, oils, almonds, wax, rice, linen, dyes, spices, wine, fabrics, salt, wood, etc. Its collection will be made, to avoid the device that this would mean, by leasing the right to collect at public auction. The mechanisms that govern taxes do not allow us to deal with the amounts that are needed with some urgency. The Generalitat then uses the sale of census or public debt. It is not, therefore, an income, but a financing system that is guaranteed by taxes".
For the administration of the new tax, which comes to replace the traditional donatiu, the Cortes appoint a commission of them. That is why some historians place the birth of the Diputació del General on that date, 1362-1364, although its administrative structure would not be fixed until 1404, still temporarily, and only after 1418 did it become into a permanent institution —which will be the object of various reforms in 1419, 1439, 1510,...—
The Diputació del General was made up of six deputies —two for each braç: noble, ecclesiastical and royal—, assisted by a series of officials: clavarios, administrators, accountants, etc.
The functions of the Diputació del General or Generalitat exceeded the strictly economic field to gradually gain a political dimension, which at first caused a confrontation with the city of Valencia since its leaders -the jurats- believe that it can reduce their role and influence in the kingdom. The city did not achieve its dissolution but from 1422 the four jurats of the royal braç held the positions of deputy, clavario -in charge of the treasury-, administrator and accountant of the institution.
According to what was agreed in the Corts of 1418, which definitively regulated the institution, its members were renewed every three years without waiting for the meeting of the new Corts since the deputies who finished their term were the ones who appointed their substitutes. However, in order to control the institution, the king imposed in 1424 that the two deputies of the royal braç were two jurats from the city of Valencia, since he controlled their appointment since the introduction of the ceda system, so they were trusted men of the king. At the end of the XV century, King Ferdinand II the Catholic did not even care about ways to continue controlling the institution and annulled the electoral system and appointed royal officials to fill the positions. Later he established the insacculatory method for the provision of the two deputies of the noble arm and a rigid shift between the cities —not including Valencia— to fill the positions of deputies of the braç real.
Due to the control exercised by the monarchy over the institution, the Valencian Diputació del General had less political weight than the Generalitat of Catalonia and less capacity to oppose the king's wishes. Valencian deputies themselves in 1624 when they affirmed that "nosaltres en este regne no tenem la plenitude de poder que los deputats de Catalunya i Aragó" ('we in this kingdom do not have the plenitude of power that the deputies of Catalonia and Aragon').
As the Diputació del General lost political weight, the defense of the Furs and the representation of the kingdom passed to the Estaments ('Estamentos'), an institution with poorly defined profiles made up of the members of each braç residing in the city of Valencia, who meet separately. Thus, "until the end of the foral period, a kind of dispute was maintained between the Generalitat and the Estates for both claiming to embody the representation of the kingdom outside the Cortes&# 34;. In the last Corts held in 1645, the Estaments were institutionalized with the creation of the Junta d'Electes dels Estaments.
Thus, it was in the XVI century when the weakening of the institution began due to the counterpower formed by the Estates: nobles; the urban upper classes who ruled the cities; and ecclesiastical representatives. This division of the representativeness of the Kingdom of Valencia, contrary to what happened in Aragon and Catalonia, led to the decline of the kingdom's influence since it did not have a unified voice against the Crown. By not having a strong voice, every economic demand of the Crown was met, contrary to what happened in other territories of the Crown of Aragon where armed uprisings were not uncommon. In addition, the very division of power between the Generalitat, nobles, urban patriciates and the Church led to the last three being institutionalized in isolation to be able to provide services, build defensive infrastructures, etc. consolidating in their respective territories. These institutions, obviously, competed with the Generalitat.
At this point, the Diputación del General, the old name of the Generalitat, only collected taxes that it ceded to these institutions born from the Estaments; therefore, he could not represent the Kingdom of Valencia, which was decapitated.
The Diputación del General, like the rest of the institutions of the Kingdom of Valencia, was abolished in 1707, as a consequence of the promulgation by Felipe V of the Decree of Nueva Planta, in the middle of the Succession War.
The democratic Generalitat
After the approval of the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community in 1982, the new institutions of autonomous government received the name of Generalitat Valenciana, despite the fact that it was a completely different body from its medieval and modern namesake. In 2006, with the reform of the Statute, the name 'Valenciana' and their correspondence in Spanish, with only the Valencian name Generalitat being official.
Institutions of the Valencian Generalitat
Executive Branch
The Council of the Generalitat Valenciana (the Consell de la Generalitat, officially and in Valencian), is made up of a president (who is in turn the president of the Generalitat), a vice-president or vice-presidents, if applicable, and the Counselors (Consellers). It holds executive and regulatory power (in matters within its competence) and directs the Administration of the Generalitat Valenciana. It is regulated in the Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community and in the Valencian Government Law.
Legislative branch
The Valencian Parliament (Les Corts, officially and in Valencian) is the legislative body of the Generalitat Valenciana. It represents the Valencian people and exercises legislative power, approves the budgets of the Generalitat and controls and promotes political and government action. It currently consists of 99 deputies, elected for a four-year term by universal, free, equal, direct and secret suffrage. The Parliament is headquartered in the Borja Palace (also known as the Benicarló Palace) in the city of Valencia.
Advisory and normative institutions
According to the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, it is stated that the Generalitat Valenciana has the following advisory institutions:
- The Agravios Syndic (Syndic de Greuges, officially and in Valencia, its main function is to ensure compliance and respect for the rights and freedoms of citizens against the administration of the Valencian Community.
- The Syndicature of Accounts, (Syndicature of Comptes, Officially and in Valencia, it is the body to which the financial activity of the Generality, the local entities within its territory and the rest of the Valencian public sector corresponds, and the accounts that justify it.
- The Valencian Council of Culture (Consell Valencià de Cultura, in Valencia), it is an institution that fulfills the function of being an advisory and advisory body to the whole of the institutions of the Valencian Generality in those matters that have to do with the Valencian culture.
- The Consultative Legal Council (Consell Jurídic Consultiu, officially and in Valencia) is the supreme advisory body of the Public Administrations of the Valencian Community. It is regulated by Law 10/1994 of 19 December, of the Generality, of creation of the Consell Jurídic Consultiu of the Valencian Community, which has been modified several times, and by its Regulation, approved by Decree 138/1996 of 16 July of the Valencian Government.
- The Economic and Social Committee, (Comité Econòmic i Social, officially and in Valencia, it is a consultative entity of the Valencian Government and, in general, of the public institutions of the Valencian Community, in economic, socio-laboral and employment matters.
- The Valencian Academy of Language (Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, officially and in Valencian) is the institution that has the function to determine and develop, in its case, the linguistic norms of the Valencian, as well as to ensure the Valencian based on the lexicographic, literary tradition, and the genuine linguistic reality Valencian, as well as the consolidated normalization, from the so-called Castellón Rules.
Location
- The Generality is based in the city of Valencia, at the Palacio de la Generalidad Valenciana, but its institutions can be established anywhere in the Community.
- Las Cortes is located in the city of Valencia, at the Benicarló Palace.
- The presidency of the Generality is located in the Palacio de Fuentehermosa, which is located in the Calle Caballeros de Valencia, opposite the Palacio de la Generalidad Valenciana.
- The offices of most of the councils are located in the Administrative Complex of October 9.
Benicarló Palace, seat of the Courts.
Palacio de Fuentehermosa, Presidency headquarters.
San Miguel de los Reyes, headquarters of the AVL.
Forcalló Palace, CVC headquarters.
Administrative Complex of October 9.
Fonts
References
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