The Parliament is the institution that represents the people of Catalonia, which places it at the heart of Catalonia's institutional self-governing system.

The Catalan nation has been shaped over the course of time through the contribution of the energy of many generations, traditions and cultures, which found in Catalonia a land of welcome.

In its process of national construction, Catalonia has expressed its desire to exist and to continue moving forward in the recognition of its collective identity and in perfecting and broadening its self-government, which is why it constitutes an autonomous community, in accordance with the 1978 Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy, its basic institutional law. The Generalitat is the institutional system around which Catalonia's self-government is politically organised. The powers of the Generalitat stem from the people of Catalonia and are exercised according to the Statute of Autonomy and the Spanish Constitution.

Catalonia exercises its self-government in those areas specified in the Statute of Autonomy. In matters in which the Generalitat's power is defined as "exclusive", legislative power, regulatory power and the executive function correspond fully to the Generalitat. In other matters, the Generalitat's power is defined as "shared" and Catalonia legislates within the framework of the basic conditions established by the State. Finally, there are other matters in which it simply executes the legislation deriving from the State.

The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia establishes the Generalitat as a complex entity made up of the Presidency of the Generalitat, the Government and the other institutions established in the Statute of Autonomy (the Council for Statutory Guarantees, the Ombudsman, the Audit Office and the Catalan Broadcasting Authority). Municipalities, vegueries, comarques, (counties) and other local-government bodies determined by law also constitute the institutional system of the Generalitat, being the bodies according to which the latter is organised territorially, notwithstanding their respective autonomy.

Parliament represents the people of Catalonia. As a directly and democratically elected body, the Parliament has supreme power and is the Generalitat's most important institution, and from which all other institutions spring. The Parliament of Catalonia consists of a single chamber or house, and is independent and inviolable.