Background in 1757 Spain is a diverse country made up of several different regions with varying economic and social structures, as well as different languages and historical, political and cultural traditions. While the entire Spanish territory was united under one crown in 1479, this was not a process of national homogenization or amalgamation. The constituent territories—be they crowns, kingdoms, principalities or dominions—retained much of their former institutional existence, including limited legislative, judicial or fiscal autonomy. These territories also exhibited a variety of local customs, laws, languages and currencies until the mid 19th century. From the 18th century onwards, the
Bourbon kings and the government tried to establish a more centralized regime. Leading figures of the
Spanish Enlightenment advocated for the building of a Spanish nation beyond the internal territorial boundaries. This culminated in 1833, when Spain was
divided into 49 (now 50)
provinces, which served mostly as transmission belts for policies developed in Madrid. Spanish history since the late 19th century has been shaped by a dialectical struggle between Spanish nationalism and peripheral nationalisms, mostly in Catalonia and the Basque Country, and to a lesser degree in
Galicia. In a response to Catalan demands, limited autonomy was granted to the
Commonwealth of Catalonia in 1914, only to be abolished in 1925. It was granted again in 1932 during the
Second Spanish Republic, when the
Generalitat, Catalonia's mediaeval institution of government, was restored. The constitution of 1931 envisaged a territorial division for all Spain in "autonomous regions", which was never fully attained—only
Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia had approved "
Statutes of Autonomy"—the process being thwarted by the
Spanish Civil War that broke out in 1936, and the victory of the rebel Nationalist forces under
Francisco Franco.
Franco's dictatorial regime strongly believed that the only way of preserving the "unity of the Spanish nation" was by ruling Spain as a highly centralized state. Peripheral nationalism, along with communism and atheism, were regarded by his regime as the main threats. The
Prime Minister of Spain,
Adolfo Suárez, met with
Josep Tarradellas, president of the
Generalitat of Catalonia in exile. They agreed to restore the Generalitat and transfer limited powers while the constitution was still being written. Shortly after, the government allowed the creation of "assemblies of members of parliament" made up of deputies and senators of the different territories of Spain, so that they could constitute "pre-autonomic regimes" for their regions as well. The
Fathers of the Constitution worked toward balancing the opposing views of Spain—on the one hand, the centralist view inherited from monarchist and nationalist elements of Spanish society, and on the other hand
federalism and a pluralistic view of Spain as a "nation of nations"—and developing a uniform decentralization of entities with the same powers and an asymmetrical structure that would distinguish the nationalities. Peripheral nationalist parties wanted a multinational state with a federal or confederal model, while the governing
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) and the
People's Alliance (AP) wanted minimum decentralization; the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) was sympathetic to a federal system. while enshrining in the constitution the right to autonomy or self-government of the "nationalities and regions" through a process of asymmetric
devolution of power to the "autonomous communities" that were to be created.
Constitution of 1978 The starting point in the territorial organization of Spain was the second article of the constitution, which reads: The constitution was rather ambiguous on how this was to take place. Rather than imposing, it
enables a process towards a decentralized structure based on the exercise that these "nationalities and regions" would make of the right to self-government that they were granted. and its construction was deliberately open-ended; the constitution only created a process for an eventual
devolution, but it was voluntary in nature: the "nationalities and regions" themselves had the option of choosing to attain self-government or not. In order to exercise this right, the constitution established an open process whereby the "nationalities and regions" could be constituted as "autonomous communities".
Provinces would serve as the building blocks and constituent parts of the autonomous communities. The 50 provinces were a pre-existing territorial division of the liberal centralizing regime of the 19th century created for purely administrative purposes (and in the 1978 Constitution were defined as groupings of
municipalities). The constitution stipulated that the following could be constituted as autonomous communities: • Two or more adjacent provinces with common historical, cultural and economic characteristics • Insular territories • A single province with a "historical regional identity" It also allowed for exceptions to the above criteria, in that the Spanish Parliament could: • authorize, in the nation's interest, the constitution of an autonomous community even if it was a single province without a historical regional identity (which allowed for example, the creation of the
Community of Madrid, which had been part of the historical region of
Castile–La Mancha); and to • authorize or grant autonomy to entities or territories that were not provinces (which allowed for the creation of two autonomous cities, Spanish exclaves in North Africa). or the
Eusko Legebiltzarra, in session. The constitution also established two "routes" to accede to autonomy. The "fast route" or "fast track",—
Catalonia, the
Basque Country and
Galicia, regions with strong regional identities—in that the very strict requirements to opt for this route were waived for those territories that had approved a "Statute of Autonomy" during the
Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936). By 1983, all 17 autonomous communities were constituted:
Andalusia,
Aragon,
Asturias, the
Balearic Islands, the
Basque Country, the
Canary Islands,
Cantabria,
Castile and León,
Castile–La Mancha,
Catalonia, the
Community of Madrid,
Extremadura,
Galicia,
La Rioja,
Navarra, the
Region of Murcia and the
Valencian Community. The two autonomous cities,
Ceuta and
Melilla were constituted in 1995. Once the autonomous communities were created, Article 145 prohibits the "federation of autonomous communities". This was understood as any agreement between communities that would produce an alteration to the political and territorial equilibrium that would cause a confrontation between different blocks of communities, an action incompatible with the principle of solidarity and the unity of the nation. The so-called "additional" and "transitory" dispositions of the constitution allowed for some exceptions to the above-mentioned framework. In terms of territorial organization, the fifth transitory disposition established that the cities of
Ceuta and
Melilla, Spanish exclaves located on the northern coast of Africa, could be constituted as "autonomous communities" if the absolute majority of the members of their city councils would agree on such a motion, and with the approval of the Spanish Parliament, which would exercise its prerogatives to grant autonomy to other entities besides provinces. However
one aspect of this asymmetry in powers between regions is a cause of friction, namely that the
Basque Country and
Navarre can raise their own taxes and negotiate a transfer to Madrid to pay for common services and hence, unlike the other regions, do not contribute to fiscal equalisation across Spain. These two regions or communities are known as "chartered" territories, In all other communities, all taxes are levied and collected by or for the central government and then redistributed among all.
Autonomic pacts or
Gobierno de la Nación and the presidents of the Autonomous communities of Spain. The Statutes of Autonomy of the Basque Country and Catalonia were sanctioned by the Spanish Parliament on 18 December 1979. The position of the party in government, the
Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD), was that only the three "historical nationalities" would assume full powers, while the rest would accede to autonomy via article 143, assuming fewer powers and perhaps not even establishing institutions of government. This was firmly opposed by the representatives of
Andalusia, who demanded for their region the maximum level of powers granted to the "nationalities". After a massive rally in support of autonomy, a referendum was organized for Andalusia to attain autonomy through the strict requirements of article 151, or the "fast route"—with UCD calling for abstention, and the main party in opposition in Parliament, the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) calling for a vote in favour. These "autonomic pacts" filled in the gap left by the open character of the constitution. Among other things: • They described the final outline of the territorial division of Spain, with the specific number and name of the autonomous communities to be created. • They restricted the "fast route" to the "historical nationalities" and Andalusia; all the rest had to take the "slow route". • They established that all autonomous communities would have institutions of government within a parliamentary system. • They set up a deadline for all the remaining communities to be constituted: 1 February 1983. In the end, 17 autonomous communities were created: • Andalusia, and the three "historical nationalities"—the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia—took the "fast route" and immediately assumed the maximum set of powers allowed in the constitution; the rest took the "slow route". •
Aragon,
Castilla-La Mancha,
Castile and León,
Extremadura and the
Valencian Community acceded to autonomy as communities made up of two or more provinces with common historical, economic and cultural characteristics. • The
Balearic Islands and the
Canary Islands acceded to autonomy as insular territories, the latter made up of two provinces. •
Principality of Asturias,
Cantabria,
La Rioja and
Murcia acceded to autonomy as single provinces with historical identity (also called "uniprovincial" autonomous communities). •
Navarre, as a single province, acceded to autonomy through the recognition, update and improvement of its historical and local "law" (charters; Spanish
fueros), and as such, it is known as a "chartered community". • The province of Madrid, home to the national capital, was removed from Castilla-La Mancha (formerly
New Castile), to which it previously belonged, and constituted as a single-province autonomous community in the "national interest", the
Community of Madrid. Special provisions were made for the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands in that, although they took the "slow route", through the subsequent approval of specific organic laws, they were to assume full autonomy in less than 5 years, since they had started a process towards the "fast route" prior to the approval of the "autonomic pacts". On the other hand, Cantabria and La Rioja, although originally part of
Old Castile—and both originally included in the "pre-autonomic regime" of Castile and León—were granted autonomy as single provinces with historical identity, a move supported by the majority of their populations. The "autonomic pacts" give both Cantabria and La Rioja the option of being incorporated into Castile and León in the future, and required that the Statutes of Autonomy of all three communities include such a provision. By means of the State of Autonomies implemented after the Spanish Constitution of 1978, Spain has been quoted to be "remarkable for the extent of the powers peacefully devolved over the past 30 years" and "an extraordinarily decentralized country", with the central government accounting for just 18% of public spending, 38% by the regional governments, 13% by the local councils, and the remaining 31% by the
social security system. In terms of personnel, by 2010 almost 1,350,000 people or 50.3% of the total
civil servants in Spain were employed by the autonomous communities; city and provincial councils accounted for 23.6% and those employees working for the central administration (police and military included) represented 22.2% of the total. == Movement for further autonomy ==