Provincial deputation (Spain)#Criticism

The role of a provincial council is limited to:{{sfn|Local Government Act|1985|loc=Article 36(1)}}{{sfn|Canel|1994|p=52}}

• providing legal, economic and technical assistance and co-operation to municipalities, particularly those with more limited economic and managerial resources;
• coordinating municipal services in order to ensure the provision of compulsory minimum services;
• providing public services extending to several municipalities and municipal associations (Spanish: comarcas and mancomunidades);
• promoting provincial interests.

Similar functions are exercised by the {{Lang|es|cabildos}} in the Canary and Balearic Islands.{{sfn|The Spanish Constitution|1978|loc=Article 141(4)}}

With the creation of the autonomous communities, provincial councils have lost much of their power, and have a very limited scope of actions, with the exception of the Basque Country, where provinces are known as historical territories and their government bodies retain more powers.

Central grants represent 84% of the income of provincial councils; other sources of funds are insignificant.{{sfn|Canel|1994|page=52}} They include small portions of the income tax, value-added tax, payments from municipalities, some other minor taxes such as a levy surcharge on the municipal business tax, and a motor vehicle tax. They can borrow if authorised by the state or their autonomous community and then only for investment purposes.{{sfn|Hooghe|Marks|Schakel|2016|pages=500-501}}

Nine of the 50 provinces have no provincial councils for the reasons explained below.

There are provincial councils in the 41 provinces that make up the autonomous communities of Galicia, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencian Community, Castile and León, Castilla–La Mancha, Extremadura, and Andalusia. The Basque Country has what are known as {{Lang|es|diputaciones forales}} (English: chartered councils).

Autonomous communities with only one province (Asturias, Cantabria, Community of Madrid, Murcia, La Rioja, and Navarre) do not have provincial councils as the government of the region handles all of their functions.{{sfn|Local Government Act|1985|loc=Article 40}}{{refn|Before the establishment of autonomous communities in the 1980s, the provinces of Logroño (currently La Rioja), Madrid and Murcia, Oviedo (currently Asturias) and Santander (currently Cantabria) had a provincial deputation. Before the establishment of Navarra as Chartered Community, it had a diputación foral.}}

In the two provinces of the Canary Islands instead of a provincial council each island has a {{Lang|es|cabildo insular}} (island council). Similarly, in the province of the Balearic Islands, instead of a provincial council each island has a {{Lang|es|consejo insular}} (island council). These island councils perform functions similar to those of provincial councils.{{sfn|Local Government Act|1985|loc=Article 41}}

The deputies are elected from the general public by the municipal councillors (Spanish: {{Lang|es|concejales}}) that make up the province, not directly by the populace.{{sfn|Cools|Verbeek|2013|loc=paragraph 24}} The number of deputies is determined in proportion to the number of inhabitants in each of the judicial districts using the D'Hondt method. Each judicial district covers a number of municipalities.

The number of deputies per province depends on population and is given as follows:

The only exception to this is the chartered councils of the three Basque provinces, where the deputies are elected directly by the people via proportional representation. The president is elected in the inaugural session of the council from amongst their number. The president selects the vice presidents and the executive committee.{{sfn|Local Government Act|1985|loc=Article 34(3) and Article 35(1)}}

According to one academic, provincial councils have been, since their creation, the most controversial of Spain's public institutions. According to this criticism, they were neither conceived to serve the interests of the public nor for promoting provincial development. Their only concrete function in law is to support smaller municipalities. Purportedly they only serve the interests of political parties, by distributing paid positions to party members or their associates.{{sfn|Sánchez Morón|2017|loc=fifth last paragraph}} This is because, indirectly elected, the deputies and office holders are in practice decided by the top officials in the larger political parties, the author says. Spain has declared itself not bound to the full extent by the requirement for direct elections of all local authorities.{{sfn|Cools|Verbeek|2013|loc=Recommendation 336 (2013) paragraph 2(b)}}

Another academic says provinces are the realm of clientelism and "parking" of politicians that is scarcely justifiable.{{sfn|Rodríguez Álvarez|2010|p=88}}

A senior bureaucrat has claimed that provincial councils are a superfluous and unnecessary layer of government.{{Sfn|Zafra Víctor|2004|page=103}}

A 2013 European report criticised the overlap in responsibilities between various government levels.{{sfn|Cools|Verbeek|2013|page=1}}

In 2018 a number of political parties called for the abolition of provincial councils.{{sfn|ABC_CValenciana|2018}}{{sfn|Linde Paniagua|2018|p=113}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite news |last1=ABC_CValenciana |title=Podemos pide suprimir las diputaciones tras el caso de corrupción del PSOE y Compromís |trans-title=Podemos wants to abolish the provincial councils following the corruption cases of PSOE and Compromís |url=https://www.abc.es/espana/comunidad-valenciana/abci-podemos-pide-suprimir-diputaciones-tras-caso-corrupcion-psoe-y-compromis-201806281604_noticia.html |access-date=22 June 2019 |publisher=ABC |date=28 June 2018|language=Spanish}}
• {{cite journal|title=Local government in the Spanish autonomic state |first=Maria Jose |last=Canel |journal=Local Government Studies |volume=20 |issue=1|year=1994 |location=London |publisher=Frank Cass|pages=44–59|doi=10.1080/03003939408433710 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |date=19–21 March 2013 |title=Local and regional democracy in Spain |first1=Marc |last1=Cools |first2=Leen |last2=Verbeek |author-link2=Leen Verbeek |url=https://rm.coe.int/168071969f |publisher=Council of Europe }}
• {{cite book |last1=Hooghe|first1= Liesbet |first2=Gary |last2=Marks |first3=Arjan |last3=Schakel|first4=Sandra Chapman |last4=Osterkatz|first5=Sara |last5=Niedzwiecki|first6=Sarah |last6=Shair-Rosenfield|title=Measuring Regional Authority: A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance: Volume I |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |language=English}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Linde Paniagua |first1=Enrique |title=Las Diputaciones Provinciales y su Futuro Incierto |trans-title =The Provincial Councils and their uncertain future|journal=Teoría y Realidad Constitucional |date=2018 |volume=41 |issue=41 |pages=113–135 |doi=10.5944/trc.41.2018.22119 |language=Spanish |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/6438501.pdf|access-date=22 June 2019|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite journal|year=2010|url=http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/POSO/article/view/POSO1010330067A/21521|journal=Política y Sociedad|issn=1130-8001|publisher=Complutense University of Madrid|location=Madrid|first=José Manuel|last=Rodríguez Álvarez|volume=47|issue=3|title=Estructura institucional y organización territorial local en España: fragmentación municipal, asociacionismo confuso, grandes ciudades y provincias supervivientes|language=es|trans-title=Institutional structure and local territorial organisation in Spain: municipal fragmentation, confusing associations, large cities and surviving provinces|pages=67–91}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Sánchez Morón |first1=Miguel |title=¿Deben suprimirse las diputaciones provinciales?|trans-title=Should provincial councils be abolished? |journal=El Cronista del Estado Social y Democrático de Derecho |date=January 2017 |volume=65 |url=http://laadministracionaldia.inap.es/noticia.asp?id=1507162 |access-date=20 June 2019 |publisher=Iustel |language=Spanish |issn=1889-0016}}
• {{cite journal|title=Reflexiones sobre el gobierno local |trans-title=Reflections on local government |language=Spanish |first=Manuel |last=Zafra Víctor |journal=Anuario del Gobierno Local |issn=2013-4924 |issue=1 |year=2004 |isbn=84-609-5895-7 |accessdate=6 Oct 2023 |location=Barcelona |publisher=Institut de Dret Públic|format=pdf |url=http://repositorio.gobiernolocal.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10873/519/097-114%20Zafra.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809071942/http://repositorio.gobiernolocal.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10873/519/097-114%20Zafra.pdf |archivedate=2016-08-09}}
• {{cite web |title=The Spanish Constitution |url=https://www.boe.es/legislacion/documentos/ConstitucionINGLES.pdf |publisher=Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado |access-date=12 June 2019 |language=English |date=1978|ref={{harvid|Spanish Constitution|1978}}}}
• {{cite web|title=Local Government Act (Organic Law 7/1985), Basic Principles of Local Government |url=https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/1985/04/02/7/con |publisher=Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado |access-date=12 June 2019 |year=1985|pages=8945–8964 |language=Spanish|ref={{harvid|Local Government Act|1985}}}}

{{Provincial Deputations and Island Councils of Spain}}

{{Authority control}}