The municipal action plan. A tool for local government action by the provincial council of Barcelona

Abstract

The debate on the situation and permanence of the provincial councils (diputacions) in Catalonia is often presented from a perspective that is not only misguided but also quite misleading, for two different reasons. The first source of confusion arises from the automatic association of the concept of «provincia» with that of «diputació» The second, and particularly deceptive, source of confusion lies in the contradiction between the stated and the actual intentions of most political parties when addressing the issue of provincial councils, as their positions often shift significantly within the same party depending on the electoral prospects at any given time.