Abstract
Autonomous Communities involvement in national decision-making and cooperation between State and Autonomous Communities tends to be cited as one of the major weaknesses of the Autonomous State. Within this particular situation, horizontal relations between the various Autonomous Communities pose somewhat of a paradox. On the one hand, they are the only kind of relations set out in the Constitution, albeit from a standpoint of cautious unease towards the Autonomous Communities, through express mention of the legal mechanisms on which such relations are based: cooperation accords and agreements (Art. 145.2 of the Spanish Constitution: On the other hand, a look at the past 30 years of the Autonomous State reveals how little such relations have been used by the Autonomous Communities the most important thing is achieving a legal-political solution that merges institutionalisation and flexibility, regulating the legal system of cooperation through regional laws, and fostering its implementation in all Autonomous Communities or certain groups thereof via agreements between them. Autonomous Communities have tended to deal with the central administration individually. Adopting such abottom-up approach would surely have a knock-on effect amongst other Autonomous Communities and would herald a major step forward in the effort to rationalise the Autonomous State at a time of deep crisis like the present.
The current work forms part of the activities involved in the research project “Estado autonómico y democracia: los derechos de participación en los estatutos de autonomía” (MCI, DER2009-12921).
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- 1.
El Informe del Consejo de Estado sobre la reforma constitucional, published by Rubio Llorente et al. (2006), pp. 163–164. The Council of State refers to the “vagueness and lack of flexibility” of this constitutional regulation as being responsible for such a small number of agreements between Autonomous Communities and urges other informal means of cooperation to be sought (p. 164).
- 2.
Many authours have criticised the impreciseness of this particular constitutional provision. See the recent work of Tajadura et al. (2010a), p. 218 et seq.
- 3.
Rodríguez de Santiago (2009), p. 2184. The author feels that, in legal terms, the 1996 accord between the Basque Country and Navarre should have been treated merely as an agreement and not as a cooperation accord since it was confined to setting up a standing body for meetings, which was consultative in nature and whose decisions were not binding. However, the author recognises that in political terms it was not perceived as such.
- 4.
Montilla Martos (2011), p. 160.
- 5.
- 6.
A detailed analysis of recent changes included in the new Statutes may be found in the special issue of the Revista Jurídica de Castilla y León, issue 19, 2009.
- 7.
This is not the case in the Valencian Community, where an overall majority in the Regional Parliament of Valencia is always required (Art. 59).
- 8.
Concerning the issue of redefinition by Parliament, see the recent favourable considerations thereon (a minority opinion amongst scholars), González García (2011), p. 103 et seq.
- 9.
In the 2010 reform, no changes were made to this reform in the Organic Law on the Re-integration and Improvement of Charter-granted rights (Spanish acronym—LORAF) in Navarre.
- 10.
García Morales (2009), p. 396. For said author, enhancing multilateral horizontal cooperation may serve to offset the politicisation of certain sectorial conferences.
- 11.
In 2002, the Ministry for Public Administration website published five volumes of the Informe sobre le proyecto de Ley General de Cooperación Autonómica. A summary and appraisal thereof may be found in Corcuera (2002), pp. 202–211. I follow the above cited author on this point.
- 12.
The Minister called for broad political consensus, recognising that “whilst the principle of cooperation remains mandatory, as we are reminded by the Constitutional Court … such an obligation to cooperate can only be achieved voluntarily, since it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to force cooperation”, see Cortes Generales (2001), p. 3.
- 13.
- 14.
On the same issue, see Tajadura (2010b), p. 134 et seq.
- 15.
Valencian Community, Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Aragon and Castilla y León.
- 16.
The Santiago de Compostela agreement of 25 October 2010 signed by all the Autonomous Communities with the exception of the Basque Country, Castilla-La Mancha, the Canary Islands, Madrid, and Asturias. With the exception of the Basque Country, all of these Autonomous Communities subsequently signed the agreement. The autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla were not included. In 2011, a meeting was held in Santander of what was the first (and to date, only) conference. After the victory of the nationalist CiU federation in Catalonia in the November 2010 elections, the Catalonian government withdrew. President Mas’s government opting for bilateral relations with the State.
- 17.
http://www.comunidadesautonomas.org/ (consulted on 12 November 2011).
- 18.
For instance, Constitutional Court Ruling 18/1982 refers to the duty to cooperate “arising from the general obligation of national and regional authorities to provide mutual help”. The Constitutional Court stresses this idea literally, or almost, in subsequent rulings, in which it adds certain features of cooperation: a duty on the part of national and regional authorities to provide mutual information (Constitutional Court Ruling 76/1983) and mutual aid (Constitutional Court Ruling 80/1985), the duty to provide mutual support, and mutual loyalty (Constitutional Court Ruling 96/1986).
- 19.
In a similar vein, it has also stated that “since this duty does not involve any extension of national competences, the State cannot impose such a duty by adopting coercive measures but, for those which are to be adopted, should seek to do so through the prior agreement of the competent Autonomous Communities, which will thereby participate in shaping the will of the State” (Constitutional Court Ruling 80/1985).
- 20.
This would only be true when specifically indicated by the SC when competences were shared out. When distinguishing between ports and airports of general interest, water supply works, and communication networks spreading over more than one Autonomous Community, the SC assigns competence to the State, under Art. 149.1 of the SC.
- 21.
Due to its particular nature, involvement in appointing judges to the Constitutional Court and members to the General Council of the Judiciary set out under Art. 180 Statute of Catalonia (Legal basis 113) is excluded from the analysis for the moment.
- 22.
Constitutional Court Ruling 44/1986 had referred to such protocols as “mere statements of cooperation or proclamations of aspirations and reciprocal intentions” different to accords and agreements (Legal basis 3). At that moment, the Court noted the difficulty involved in clarifying the contents of an agreement and defended the need to apply a joint legal system, which would move towards the concept of a cooperation accord or agreement requiring parliamentary intervention.
- 23.
This latter view is held by Tajadura (2010a), op. cit., pp. 231 and 247 et seq. In our view, unless foreseen in constitutional reform, there is no reason to consider that for the moment the normative category of the organic law should be used since it is not a matter reserved to said category by the Constitution.
- 24.
El Informe del Consejo de Estado (2006), p. 165, op. cit. For the Council of State, ensuring the constitutional and legal appropriateness of said cooperation agreements should fall to judicial and not political bodies.
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Andreu, J.M.C. (2013). Cooperation Between Autonomous Communities: An Opportunity to Rationalise the Autonomous State in Times of Crisis. In: López - Basaguren, A., Escajedo San Epifanio, L. (eds) The Ways of Federalism in Western Countries and the Horizons of Territorial Autonomy in Spain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27717-7_13
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