On behalf of the people, the Parliament of Catalonia ensures good governance of the nation. This involves the power to form and dissolve the Government, to criticise it, to call it to account and to direct its political and administrative decisions.

Firstly, Parliament forms and maintains the Government, electing the President of the Generalitat from among its members, and approves and supports the programme of Government proposed by the President. This function of creation then becomes one of holding the Government to account, since the President and Government are politically responsible before Parliament and must resign if the House refuses to grant them its confidence. In both cases, Parliament encourages and promotes political and Governmental action, directing and stimulating the Government or a department and entrusting them with governance.

This function of encouraging and promoting political and governmental action is carried out as follows:

The Plenary Assembly is responsible for approving the candidate for the Presidency of the Generalitat. The candidate is proposed by the President of the Parliament after he/she has met with the leaders of all parties represented in the House to examine who has most support for presidential investiture. In the investiture debate, the candidate presents his/her programme of Government.

To be elected as the President of the Generalitat, the candidate requires an absolute majority of votes in favour in the first round of votes or a simple majority in the second round.

Members of Parliament may lodge a motion of censure in the President of the Generalitat or the Government. This serves to censure the President's governance and to propose a new candidate for presidency. A motion of censure must be lodged by at least one tenth of members and requires an absolute majority to be passed. If the motion is passed, the Presidency and the Government come to an end, and a new candidate is elected as president.

The President of the Generalitat, after discussion with the Government, may propose a motion of confidence to seek the explicit support of the House for his/her programme, for a declaration of general policy or for a particularly important decision. If a vote of confidence does not gain the support of the simple majority of Members of Parliament, the President and Government must resign, and the process begins for the election of another candidate for the presidency.

The Parliamentary system is defined as a system of balance and collaboration between the legislative and executive branches of government. The Generalitat has a Parliamentary system of government in which the powers of the Parliament are, to a certain extent, counterbalanced by those of the President.

Investiture, motions of censure and motions of confidence are solemn instruments with which the President of the Generalitat and the Government can be elected, held to account and forced to resign by Parliament. Though certain restrictions exist, the President of the Generalitat may dissolve Parliament and call new elections.

There are other, more usual techniques to facilitate relations between Presidency, Government and Parliament. The most important of these are:

• - General debates on political and governmental action, held at least once a year, at the start of the September session. In these general debates, the President of the Generalitat or a member of the Government outlines the Government's programme. All the Parliamentary groups then have the opportunity to criticise the Government, comment on its actions, or lend support. The debate normally concludes with voting on motions and Parliament setting guidelines for Government action.
• - Interpellations, leading to debate on general policy issues of the Government or a department. The interpellating Member of Parliament and the member of the Government addressed may each speak for ten minutes, then again for five minutes. A motion may then be lodged, in which case the House declares its position, sets out objectives or advises the Government regarding the issue under debate.
• - Questions, by which Members of Parliament may request information on less important issues. Members can request a written or oral answer, which can be given in a Committee or in the Plenary Assembly. In each ordinary sitting, the Plenary Assembly reserves one hour for dealing with questions to the President of the Generalitat and the members of the Government.
• - Sittings at which members of the Government report to the committees, allowing them, at their own initiative or at the request of the committees, to report on the general actions of a department.

Parliament may discuss and approve Parliamentary resolutions referring to matters of particular interest. The House can use these resolutions to express an opinion or desire, invite certain steps to be taken or give its support to a person. Amendments can be lodged to resolutions dealt with through this procedure, after which there is a single debate followed by the necessary voting procedures. This procedure is unique in that, although all amendments lodged are debated, the person who submitted the proposal can decide which amendments will be put to a vote, and may choose to incorporate external criteria and proposals and succeed in getting these approved, thus encouraging a political or administrative action, or choose to maintain his/her global position and have the proposal voted against, thereby showing the electorate exactly what his/her stance is. Politically-binding resolutions can be addressed to the Government, to the people of Catalonia, to public opinion, or to Parliament itself, but such resolutions are not legally-binding.

The Government's programmes, plans and reports also allow Parliament to hold a debate and make decisions; however, in these cases the initiative belongs to the Government.

• Outlines of the processes of political action of the government and of political control