Is Catalonia officially a country or a state in Spain?

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SUE

Cataluña (in Spanish, Catalunya in Catalán and Catalonia in English) is an Autonomous Region of Spain. There are 17 autonomous regions in Spain (using the list under Spain in this category as my basis. I don't have any better count than that...It might be twenty). They have political autonomy, meaning freedom to determine their destinies politically, much like states in the US or provinces in Canada. Each has a sort of governor, and they ALL have at least two provinces, governed by a major city of the same name. (as the Province of Barcelona is governed by the city of Barcelona, or has its government in that main city, and the province of Girona has its govt in the city of Girona). Yes, there are several provinces within Cataluña. The only exception is Comunidad Madrid, which, like the District of Columbia, is seperate in the sense that it isn't part of any state, but is also too small to be seperated into provinces.

They used to call them Reinos or kingdoms, because the original seperations actually were the borders of kingdoms, but as the country has had pretty much the same borders for almost five hundred years, I think they finally decided the kings weren't going to set up their own kingdoms again, and finally renamed them during the early 80s.

Crossing the border into Catalonia, however, is almost like entering a different country. The difference is so palpable. And the people there, still don't really consider themselves Spanish. Or at least they are only Spanish AFTER they are Catalán.

bcn_mimosa

Its a region in Spain..

Take care...

Bcn_mimosa from Barcelona, Spain

SOC JO! A capite ad calcem

A good question,certainly.I´m Catalan,so it touches me deep.
For me...a country....politically still a community of Spain (Comunitat Autònoma) or region if you prefer it this way.
I could be talking about it all night,I´ll just tell you what books say about it and I´ll leave my personal thoughts deep inside me.But just say that Catalan is my mother tongue,and that I´m proud of it.Visca Catalunya!

Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya; Spanish: Cataluña; Aranese Occitan: Catalonha), is an Autonomous Community of the Kingdom of Spain. The Autonomous Community of Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² with an official population of 7,210,508[1] from which immigrants represent an estimated 12.3% of the total population. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 km coastline). Official languages are Spanish, Catalan, and Aranese.

The capital city is Barcelona. Catalonia is divided into four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its territory corresponds to most of the historical territory of the former Principality of Catalonia.
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 declares that Spain is an indissoluble nation that recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the "nationalities" and regions that constitute it.[2] Catalonia, alongside Basque Country, Galicia and Andalusia self-ascribed as "nationalities" in the elaborations of their Statutes of Autonomy – the first three acceding to autonomy automatically – and more recently in their new Statutes or recent amendments Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands also did.

The 1979 as well as the current Statute of Autonomy, approved in 2006, state that "Catalonia, as a nationality, exercises its self-government constituted as an autonomous community in accordance with the Constitution and with the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, which is its basic institutional law."[3].

The Preamble of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia states the Parliament of Catalonia defined Catalonia as a nation, but that the "Spanish Constitution recognizes Catalonia's national reality as a nationality". While this Statute was approved by and sanctioned by both the Catalan and the Spanish parliaments, and later by referendum in Catalonia, it has been legally contested by the surrounding Autonomous Communities of Aragon, Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community,[4] as well as by the Partido Popular. The objections are based on various topics such as disputed cultural heritage but, specially, on the Statute's alleged breaches of the "solidarity between regions" principle enshrined by the Constitution in fiscal and educational matters. As of December 2007, the Constitutional Court of Spain is assessing the constitutionality of the challenged articles; its binding conclusion is expected for 2008.
After Franco's death in 1975 and the adoption of a democratic constitution in Spain in 1978, Catalonia recovered, and extended, the powers granted in the statute of autonomy of 1932[27] it had lost with the fall of the Second Spanish Republic[28] at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 .

The historical region has gradually achieved a greater degree of autonomy since 1979. The Generalitat holds exclusive jurisdiction in various matters including culture, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments while it shares jurisdiction with the Spanish government in education, health and justice.[29]

There is significant Catalan nationalist sentiment present in a part of the population of Catalonia[citation needed], which ranges from the desire for independence from Spain expressed by some, to a more generic demand of further autonomy expressed by others

rmmenta

It is neither a country nor a state. It is a Spanish region. I'm Spaniard

Very happily married.

It is part of Spain, not a country.

julie travelcaster

It is a region, actually. Or "Autonomous Community". Some of the Autonomous communities in spain are further broken down into provinces, which are more analogous to states, but Catalonia does not appear to be.

trb331

not a country ... yet. It is a Spanish region.

kamikaziggy

Catalunya is a PROVINCE of Spain

Vlad_the_Impala

No it isn't at all, it's an Autonomous Region - as is quite clearly stated up-thread.

It comprises FOUR Provinces; Barcelona, Gerona, Lerida and Tarragona.

villa pilla

I´m spanish..and I think that Cataluña is a state of Spain.
They always try to separate their state from Spain, but this is imposible because they need a lot of money, from de central government of Spain.
For example between january and april they have several problems with water because they don´t have it, and they goverment send a lot of water from others states to Cataluña
So....Finally I can say that Cataluña needs Spain.
pd- Sorry for my english...

Ash

ohhhh..... politics!

it's a state.

SCHUMIGIRL1956

Its a state like America there are quite a few dotted around Spain they also have more cities than anyone else in Europe.

sailor

Its a country that has only one cat.

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