Barcelona City Council

Functioning and structure of Full City Council Meetings

To find out about the composition of Full City Council Meetings, the municipal political party groups that make them up and each group's councillors, and to access records of broadcasts, minutes and agreements of previous Full City Council Meetings, consult the Municipal Council.

Full City Council Meetings adopt the following structure:

Information part. The municipal government presents the municipal political party groups with government measures and reports (that is, programmes, lines and forecasts that will guide executive functions on a specific issue) as well as assessments regarding a specific matter. This part, as its name suggests, is for information purposes only and does not involve any voting for a presented item's approval or rejection.

Decision-making or executive part. Here the municipal groups do vote and either approve or reject initiatives and specific agreements that require a majority from the Full Council, under Barcelona's Municipal Charter, such as budgetary investments, byelaws and regulations, amendments to the General Metropolitan Plan, and awards of medals and distinctions, among other things. Majority-approved agreements in this part are binding and the initiative falls to the municipal government, after they has been processed in the Government Commission, and with the report from the Full Council Commissions that are held the week before the Full Council Meeting

Initiative-proposing and monitoring part. This where the municipal political party groups present their proposals, group statements or propositions containing institutional declarations and make their arguments to influence the municipal government's leadership as well as ask questions to obtain more information or find out the municipal government's position on a specific issue. Propositions, unlike requests and questions, are agreement proposals open to debate among all the political party groups and may be voted on. When approved, they are politically important, but non-binding. As for requests, a discussion is opened only between the group making them and the municipal government, which is free to accept or reject them.

Institutional declarations. Institutional declarations are the City Council's stances supported by a qualified majority of two-thirds of the 41 councillors. Statements refer to matters that are not strictly within municipal competence and show broad consensus on social and citizens' issues. Although it is up to the municipal political party groups to take the initiative and present an institutional declaration proposal, because such declarations are consensual by nature, they belong to the whole institution rather than the group proposing them.