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Cities of Spain
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last update:
07-10-2012 15:39uur
General Facts of Spain
Overall the mainland of Spain covers over 492,000 km2 and the kingdom of
Spain covers over 504,000 km2. Over 45,000,000 people live in Spain.
Since 1975 Spain is again a real monarchy with King Juan Carlos de
Bourbon as head of state. Since 1978 Spain is a constitutional monarchy
with parliamentary democracy as a Spanish government.
The Ministerial Council shall ensure the Spanish national government.
Members of the Cabinet are appointed for 5 years by the Head of State on
the advice of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister of Spain is not
accountable to the parliament but to the Privy Council, an
advisory body to the head of state. The parliament consists of a Spanish
Congress of Deputies and a Senate. The Congress of Deputies, 345 seats,
is directly elected through general elections in Spain. The Senate, at
least 200 seats, consists of at least 4 elected members from each
province complemented by a number of members appointed by the king.
Since the death of Franco there is a far-reaching decentralization on
its way in Spain. The degree of autonomy, the Basque Country and
Catalonia had before Franco turns up, was partially restored. Currently,
each autonomous region in Spain has a more or less self-government
status. However, the composition and powers are not uniform. Every state
in Spain got from the Madrid government its own statute, however, given
its content is primarily determined by economic and political importance
of that region in Spain. The main responsibilities of the elected
government of these regions in Spain including the areas of decision
making on regional economic topics, tourism, road management, recording
of bilingualism and the creation of regional television and radio
stations.
National anthem of Spain,
The national anthem of Spain is called La Marcha Real, the Spanish royal
march. Unlike many other countries the anthem of Spain has no text, the
anthem consists only of music. Originally the anthem dates from 1761 and
is one of the oldest folk songs in the world. La Marcha Real was
originally called La Marcha Granadera, which is Spanish for the
Grenadiers Mars, but mainly because it was played on occasions when the
royal family was present it's been renamed to La Marcha Real. La Marcha
Real was in 1770 by King Charles 3rd official declared to the anthem of
Spain. During the 2nd Spanish Republic (1931 to 1939) it was replaced by
the national anthem Himno de Riego as Spanish anthem. Franco restored La
Marcha Real as the official anthem of Spain, but under the title La
Marcha Granadera. In October 1997 by a Royal Decree was determined that
La Marcha Real is the only official anthem of Spain.
