The Local Map
Spain has roughly 8,100 municipalities. The striking feature is their size: more than four fifths have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, and many have under 100.
The local map comprises three main levels:
| Level | Body | Selection |
|---|---|---|
| Municipality | Ayuntamiento (headed by an alcalde) | Councillors elected; mayor chosen by council |
| Province | Diputación provincial | Indirectly chosen from local councillors |
| Island territories | Cabildos and consells insulars | Directly elected |
The provincial councils are not directly elected. Their main role is to support small municipalities that lack administrative capacity.
Municipal Competences
Service duties scale with population size. In practice, local councils often provide impropias. These are informal services outside their statutory remit, such as local cultural or social schemes. A 2013 reform attempted to curb these unassigned duties, but political demand at the local level remains high.
Intergovernmental Relations
Three administrative levels require formal coordination instruments:
- Sectoral conferences: sectoral state ministers and regional ministers meeting by policy area.
- The Conference of Presidents: brings together the central government President and regional Presidents.
- Bilateral commissions: formal meetings between the central state and an individual community.
- Cooperation agreements and joint plans: shared programmes often tied to conditional funding.
Spanish intergovernmental relations are often criticised for relying on bilateral bargaining. This practice favours powerful regions over multilateral consensus.
Common pitfall: assuming a small local council is inherently more effective. Below 5,000 residents, councils rarely have the technical staff for complex modern services. Proximity to citizens often trades off against administrative capacity.