Municipalities of Spain

Municipalities of Spain
Municipality
Category Municipality
Location Spain
Found in Province, comarca or commonwealth
Government Municipal council

The municipalities of Spain (Spanish: municipios, IPA: [muniˈθipjos]; sing. municipio)[note 1] are the basic level of Spanish local government. Each municipality forms part of a province which in turn forms part or the whole of an autonomous community (seventeen in total plus Ceuta and Melilla): some autonomous communities have additional second level subdivisions, such as comarcas (districts) or mancomunidades (commonwealths). There is a total of 8,112 municipalities in Spain, including the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.[1] The average population of a municipality is about 5,300, but this figure masks a huge range: the most populous Spanish municipality is the city of Madrid, with a population of 3,016,788 (2002) , while several rural municipalities have fewer than ten inhabitants (e.g. Villarroya, La Rioja: population 11 in 2006). The area of the municipal territory (Spanish: término municipal) usually ranges from 2 to 40 km², although municipalities such as Tremp (Lleida) cover more than 400 km².

The organisation of the municipalities is governed by the Law of 2 April 1985, completed by the Royal Decree-Law of 18 April 1986. The Statutes of Autonomy of the various autonomous communities also contain provisions concerning the relations between the municipalities and the autonomous governments. In general, municipalities enjoy a large degree of autonomy in their local affairs: many of the functions of the comarcas and provinces are actually municipal powers which have been pooled together.

Each municipality is a corporation with independent legal personality: its governing body is called the ayuntamiento (municipal council or corporation), a term which is often also used to refer to the municipal offices (city and town halls). The ayuntamiento is composed of the mayor (Spanish: alcalde), the deputy mayors (Spanish: tenientes de alcalde) and the plenary assembly (pleno) of councillors (concejales). The mayor and the deputy mayors are elected by the plenary assembly, which is itself elected by universal suffrage on a list system every four years. The plenary assembly must meet at least once every three months, in public and at the seat of the ayuntamiento. Many ayuntamientos also have a governing commission (comisión de gobierno), named by the mayor from among the councillors, which is obligatory for municipalities of more than 5,000 inhabitants. The governing commission, whose role is to assist the mayor between meetings of the plenary assembly, cannot include more than one-third of the councillors.

Contents

Translation of terms

Spain's cities and main towns
English Spanish Catalan /
Valencian
Galician Basque
Municipality Municipio Municipi Municipio or Bisbarra Udalerria
Municipal
council
Ayuntamiento Ajuntament Concello Udala
Mayor Alcalde Alcalde or Batlle Alcalde Alkatea
Deputy Mayor Teniente de alcalde Tinent d'alcalde Tenente de alcalde Alkateordea
Governing
commission
Comisión de gobierno Comissió de govern Comisión de goberno Gobernu batzordea
Plenary
assembly
Pleno Ple Pleno Osoko bilkura
Councillor Concejal Regidor Concelleiro Zinegotzia

See also

Notes

  1. ^ In other languages of Spain:
    • Catalan/Valencian municipis (IPA: [muniˈsipis]), sing. municipi.
    • Galician municipios (IPA: [muˈniθipjos]) or bisbarras (IPA: [bizˈβaras]), sing. municipio/bisbarra.
    • Basque udalerriak (IPA: [udaleriak]), sing. udalerria.

References

  1. ^ INE.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • List of municipalities of Spain — Contents: Top · 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z …   Wikipedia

  • List of municipalities in Spain by population — This is a list of the largest municipalities in Spain by population. Madrid 3,099,834 Barcelona 1,578,546 Valencia 785,732 Sevilla 704,203 Zaragoza 638,799 Málaga 547,731 Murcia 398,815 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 376,953 Palma de Mallorca 368,974 …   Wikipedia

  • Spain — • This name properly signifies the whole peninsula which forms the south western extremity of Europe. Since the political separation of Portugal, however, the name has gradually come to be restricted to the largest of the four political divisions …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • SPAIN — (in Hebrew at first אספמיא then ספרד), country in S.W. Europe. The use of the word Spain to denote Sepharad has caused some confusion in research. Spain came into being long after the Jews had been expelled from the Crowns of Castile and Aragon,… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Municipalities of Estonia — Estonia …   Wikipedia

  • Municipalities of Montenegro — Municipalities of Montenegro …   Wikipedia

  • municipalities —    Municipalities, of which there are some 8,022 represented in the country s town and city halls (ayuntamientos), have a long history in Spain, many of them possessing ancient royal charters. They vary enormously in size, from those of cities… …   Encyclopedia of contemporary Spanish culture

  • Municipalities of Lebanon — Municipalities of Lebanon …   Wikipedia

  • Spain — /spayn/, n. a kingdom in SW Europe. Including the Balearic and Canary islands, 39,244,195; 194,988 sq. mi. (505,019 sq. km). Cap.: Madrid. Spanish, España. * * * Spain Introduction Spain Background: Spain s powerful world empire of the 16th and… …   Universalium

  • Spain — This article is about the country. For other uses, see Spain (disambiguation). Kingdom of Spain Reino de España …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”