Since that time, the Catalan people have aspired to regain their lost freedom. The Mancomunitat de Catalunya or Commonwealth of Catalonia (1914-1925) was the first institutional step in recovering self-government, but this was abolished by Primo de Rivera's dictatorship. Once the dictator had fallen and the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed, a provisional Catalan Government was established (1931), the Generalitat de Catalunya, named after the former autonomous Catalan Government. Approved by referendum by an overwhelming majority of the Catalan population, the Statute of Autonomy that definitively legitimised and structured Catalan self-government was approved by the Cortes of the Republic (Spanish Parliament) in 1932. This self-government was institutionalised - with the definitive name of Generalitat de Catalunya - in a legislative branch called the Parliament of Catalonia, an executive branch (consisting of the President of the Generalitat, who represents the institution in the highest rank, and the Executive Council), and a judicial branch, headed by the Tribunal de Cassació or Supreme Court of Appeal.

Thereby the parliamentary tradition of Catalonia brought to a halt in 1714 was revived. The first elections for the Parliament of Catalonia took place on 20th November 1932, and the opening session began on 6th December of the same year. The first President of the Parliament was Lluís Companys. The Parliament had to work within a turbulent political context, in Catalonia and Spain at large, as well as the rest of the world. During the so-called Bienni Negre (1934-1936) or Two Black Years, Parliament did not sit, but resumed after that only to be abolished in 1939, along with all other bodies of the Generalitat, following the fall of the Spanish Republic. However, in spite of such adversities, while Parliament did sit it accomplished significant legislative work and passed many innovative laws.

The long Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) frustrated the hopes of the Catalan people for self-government. In 1977, as part of the Spanish Transition to Democracy, Catalonia was able to provisionally recover the Generalitat with the return from the exile of its President, Josep Tarradellas. Once the Spanish Constitution had been approved in 1978, the Generalitat was permanently re-established through the 1979 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, approved by referendum. The first elections for the re-established Parliament of Catalonia took place on 20th March 1980, with the opening session commencing on April 10th of the same year.

27 years after the approval of the 1979 Statute of Autonomy, the Parliament of Catalonia approved a proposal for a new Statute of Autonomy, which, after passing through the Cortes Generales (the Spanish Parliament), was approved by the Catalan people in a referendum held on 18tht June 2006. The new Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia came into effect on 9th August 2006.