Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung

Europäische Länderberichte

Verfassungs- und Statutsreformen in Spanien: ein föderalistischer Frühling?

Klaus-Jürgen Nagel

S. 458-474

Spain's classification as a federal system is doubtful. However, the interest of its contributions to federal theory and its constitutional practices is beyond doubt. This article continues my article in Jahrbuch 2003. After reviewing two of the main Spanish authors (the Catalans Caminal and Requejo), who, during the last years, have tried to develop a theory of pluralist or plurinationalist federalism, the article proceeds to analyze the constitutional development during the last years. The closure of the state of autonomies which characterized the constitutional nationalism of Aznar's last government is contrasted to the more dynamic but still young experience of the socialist government which came into office in 2004 and the older movements for statute reform in the Basque Country and Catalonia. Where the constitution is as armoured as in Spain, even reasonable and/or morally justified plans of constitutional amendments camouflage as other things, for example statute reforms. Particular projects for constitutional and statute reforms and their legal and political difficulties are highlighted. The conclusion is that decentralizing or symmetrical federal propositions may have better chances to pass the high hurdles against change. Confederate or asymmetrical arrangements which might accommodate minority nationalist claims face stronger difficulties, in spite of pressing necessity. The state of autonomies has already achieved much in the line of decentralization and self-government and may progress more still, promoting rationalisation and democratisation. Eventually, the financial capacities of the Communities of the general regime may grow. But the second objective of the state of autonomies, the accommodation of the main minority nations in the Basque Country and Catalonia, is much more difficult to achieve. Under Spanish legal and political conditions and with the existing party systems, Constitutional reform may result more lengthy and piecemeal than the image of a federal spring may suggest. Big statute reform projects like the Ibarretxe plan lack a clear majority and have proved too much to swallow for the Spanish parties, the political system, and even Spanish society. Catalan plans for a statute reform proceed slowly, with a considerable degree of unity, but the socialist party may be torn between its participation in a Spanish pact against separatism, and the necessity to lead a Catalan coalition where the claims for national recognition and rights may suggest forms of accommodation difficult to combine with this pact.

Zitiervorschlag für diesen Artikel:
Nagel, Klaus-Jürgen 2005: Verfassungs- und Statutsreformen in Spanien: ein föderalistischer Frühling?, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung (Hrsg.): Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2005. Föderalismus, Subsidiarität und Regionen in Europa, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, S. 458-474.