The ‘vegueries’; local interests and territory in the process of the creation of these new administrative units

Abstract

The statute of Catalonia in 2006 provides that the basic territorial organization in Catalonia is based on municipalities and the so-called vegueries. These had already been a demarcation of royal power from xii century until the beginning of xviii and, moreover, they were under Republican Catalonia rule from 1936 to 1939. Nowadays according to the Statute, a bill was drawn up about vegueries functions, delimitation and capital cities. The issue was not easy at all, since there was neither economic nor political agreement and territorial conflicts were aroused between cities because of political and administrative
power. In the end, a law was endorsed in August 2010, which hardly ever has been put into practice. The fundamental issue of the article is the different types of conflict caused especially when a new vegueria is created, which arises competition between
cities for capital status.

Key words: capital status, territorial conflict, administrative political organization, vegueria.