Territorial Accommodation, Party Politics, and Statute Reform in Spain

Abstract

The term ‘accommodation’ refers to the capacity of states to contain conflict within the mechanisms and procedures embedded in existing institutional arrangements. During the first government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004–8), the Socialist government had to accommodate the Catalan proposal to reform the statute of autonomy and the controversial plan to turn the Basque Country into ‘an associated free state’ with Spain. Whereas the Basque initiative was rejected, the approval of the Catalan statute impelled several regions to apply for greater autonomy. Statute reform is a complex multilevel negotiation process characterised by intense party competition and heterogeneous policy results.

Keywords:

• Decentralisation
• Autonomous Communities
• Nationalism
• Basque Country
• Catalonia

Notes

 [1] The procedure to reform a statute of autonomy is stated in articles 147.3 and 151 of the 1978 Spanish constitution and a 1993 provision approved by the Congress of Deputies (Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales, 16 March 1993). See Instituto de Derecho Público (2005, p. 746).

 [2] ‘Peripheral’ or ‘regional nationalists’ in the Spanish context refer to those who advocate greater autonomy or even outright independence from the Spanish state.

 [3] The composition of both houses of parliament is remarkably similar and the Senate or upper house cannot be described as a chamber for territorial representation. The Congress of Deputies is elected through a modified form of proportional representation whereas the Senate is elected through a combination of majoritarian electoral laws and indirect selection by the regional legislatures. The vast majority of senators are elected on the same territorial basis as members of Congress and each province is allocated four senators, combining to provide 208 of the 256 seats. The remaining seats are appointed by the regional parliaments. Each AC must appoint one senator by default plus one more per million inhabitants within its boundaries. This adds up to between 44 and 48 seats, depending on the year.

 [4] The most established devices of cooperation between the central and regional governments are the Conferencias Sectoriales (Sector Conferences) and the Acuerdos de Cooperación entre el Estado y las Comunidades Autónomas (Cooperation Agreements between the State and the ACs). In addition, some level of institutionalised shared rule can be found in a few policy areas (education, fiscal and financial policy, etc.) where central and regional interests are coordinated, represented and protected. See Beramendi and Máiz (2004, pp. 136–137).

 [5] A new model of funding for the ACs was approved on 15 July 2009. Under the new regime, 58 per cent of special taxes (e.g. petrol and tobacco) and 50 per cent of the income tax and VAT are transferred to the ACs (El País, 19 July 2009).

 [6] On the gap between the two main state-wide parties and the fragility of the PSOE's electoral support, see Barreiro and Urquizu-Sancho (2007).

 [7] El País, 21 December 2007.

 [8] The Economist, ‘The second transition’, 26 June 2004.

 [9] The Economist, ‘Ibarretxe and bust? Spain and the Basques’, 15 January 2005.

[10] Financial Times, 19 April 2005.

[11] ‘Resultats de la Balança Fiscal de Catalunya amb l'Administració Central 2002–2005’, 2008, < http://www.gencat.cat/economia/doc/doc_36458713_1.pdf>.

[12] The working committee was made of deputies belonging to the five political parties with seats in the chamber (CiU, PSC, ERC, PP and ICV) and was assisted by the Institut d'Estudis Autonòmics (Institute for Autonomy Studies), which initially provided draft statutes and documents.

[13] Notably the one belonging to General José Mena Aguado, who, seeing himself as a guardian of national unity, publicly exhorted his fellow officers to defend Spain's territorial integrity against the prospect of the government giving ‘too much’ autonomy to Catalonia. The Economist, ‘Spain and Catalonia. Bad echoes from the past’, 14 January 2006.

[14] ‘La España plural: la España constitucional, la España unida, la España en positivo’, 2003, < http://www.psoe.es/download.do?id = 21317>.