1 Brief Historical Overview
Catalonia , the Basque Country and Navarre (and, somewhat differently, also Galicia), are the regions of Spain which have strong cultural traditions and identity , and a characteristic history, and which have in the past reclaimed—even through war—a specific identity and self-government. Catalonia was a territory of the Crown of Aragón, which was a monarchy created in the Twelfth century, and was in the fifteenth century incorporated into the Crown of Spain—but keeping until 1714 a singular position of a certain level of self-government. After the succession war (1700–1714), in which Catalonia sided with the losing party (the Archduke of Austria), the new bourbonic dynasty which started with Philip V (grandson of French King Louis XIV) abolished the local institutions and rules (the “ fueros ”) and centralized and modernized Spain. More than a century later, and again in the context of the succession to the throne of Spain, Catalonia, the Basque Country and Navarre started a war to defend their “fueros”. The legitimate government, presided by Queen Elizabeth, won this first war (1833–1840), but soon there were other two wars (1846–1849 and 1872–1876), called the “carlista” wars.
These civil wars were not aimed at obtaining an independence status from Spain, but at forcing the legitimate government to accept the “fueros” and the relative self-government they implied. The rebel regions maintained that the Spanish monarchy had been founded in the fifteenth century based on the assumption that it must respect their “fueros”. At the outcome of the “carlista” wars, and despite the fact that the rebel regions lost the three of them, the “ fueros ” were partially and indirectly acknowledged by King Alphonse XII: self-government was not admitted, but small parts of the “fueros” were recognized not just from a symbolic perspective but also from a fiscal point of view, at least regarding the Basque Country and Navarre. At that time (the second half of the nineteenth century) Catalonia was the most developed and rich region of Spain, it had an industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, and, as happened in the European political, nationalistic romanticism, stood up for its cultural identity as a nation. In the twentieth century there were two moments in which self-government was restored in Catalonia: in 1914–1924 (but with little real power) and in the Second Republic (1931–1939), with an elected autonomous parliament and democratic government. The so-called “Catalan question” or “Catalan problem” was one of the main issues in the first decades of the century. For example, the elections of 1907 were won in Catalonia by a Catalanist coalition, and in 1909 the so called “tragic week” caused protests, riots, burning of churches and almost 80 casualties, and brought down Mr. Maura’s government. In October 1934, during the Second Republic which conferred to Catalonia a self-government system (through the first “Estatuto de Autonomía”), Catalan authorities unilaterally and ephemerally proclaimed the “Catalan state”, and despite of the fact that this was much more symbolic that effective, it is considered one of the factors which led to the civil war which started 20 months later. Catalan leaders were sentenced for rebellion and sent to prison (they were in 1936 reprieved by the Frente Popular government).
Thus, at least since mid nineteenth century, a portion of the Catalan society, albeit being part of Spain, has had a strong identitarian spirit, and even a nationalistic vindication. It resulted in a political movement called “Catalanism ” (see its concept and evolution in Juliá 2015). “Catalanism” —or, as Juliá suggests, “Catalanisms”, for it is a somewhat broad notion that has many facets—is focused in advocating the political and cultural recognition of Catalonia , which would be obtained through self-government. Catalanism is based on uniqueness or at least on differentiation (the belief that Catalonia is different from the rest of the Spanish regions: the so called “differentiating fact”, or “national fact”), on language (Catalan is a specific regional language spoken in Catalonia , and in Valencia and in the Balearic Islands), and also on a certain mythologization of the local institutions which existed in the past and were abolished by the Bourbons in 1714. The Spanish authorities, more or less democratic (from 1874 to 1923, under Kings Alphonse XII and his son, Alphonse XIII) or openly authoritarian (Dictators General Primo de Rivera, from 1923 to 1930, and General Franco , from 1939 to 1975), were highly centralistic, did not accept self-government (for Catalonia and for the rest of the regions and even for municipalities or counties) and did not allow public exhibitions of some of the cultural characteristics such as regional languages. In the three periods in which rule of law and democracy prevailed, even only for a short time, over monarchy or dictatorship (First Republic: 1783, Second Republic: 1931–1939, and after General Franco’s death in 1975), political decentralization and self-government were considered a necessary consequence of democracy. Therefore, rule of law, and political rights and freedoms, were demanded for individuals, but also for regions such as Catalonia and the Basque Country which had a certain cultural identity , and even a nationalistic vindication.
2 Constitutional Background: Spain as a Quasi-Federal Polity
At the aftermath of General Franco’s death in 1975 Spain started a democratization process, the so called “transition ” which led in December 1978 to a Constitution which established a full democratic regime and gave access to Spain to the Council of Europe (1977), to NATO (1981) and later to the EU (1986). The constitutional monarchy and the Spanish state were based on both the unity and the diversity of Spain. Article 2 of the Constitution reads that
The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation , the common and indivisible country of all Spaniards; it recognizes and guarantees the right to autonomy of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed, and the solidarity amongst them all.
Political decentralization consisted in the possibility that “nationalities and regions”, both under the name and structure of “ Comunidades Autónomas ” (“Autonomous Communities”) could be ruled by self-government, with an elected parliament, an accountable government and constitutionally granted powers. It is important to stress that both the text and the intent of the framers envisaged two groups of territories: one group would be composed of the “nationalities”, that is, the parts of Spain with a specific collective identity in which the demand for self-government was widely spread and which had previously had a self-government status. This included Catalonia (self-government established in 1932), the Basque Country (in 1936) and Galicia (also in 1936, although when the Civil War broke self-government had not yet been granted because it was only a project). These three historic “nationalities” would immediately and almost automatically become “ Comunidades Autónomas ” and be granted an autonomy regime (“Estatuto de Autonomía”) with a considerable level of powers. Actually, even though Navarre had never previously had a “Estatuto” , its status of quasi sovereignty from a fiscal perspective means that in practical terms it had a level of self-government similar to the aforementioned three.
The other group would include the rest of Spain, which in principle was not considered a “nationality ”: “regions” such as Madrid, Castilla, Valencia, Andalucía, Asturias, etc. in which the nationalistic feeling, or the aspiration to self-government, had never been clearly present or had never had a self-government status, or which had never had specific demarcations. They could also become “ Comunidades Autónomas ”, and be granted an “ Estatuto ”, but with an important difference: by default they could only initially have access to an inferior level of self-government, and if they wanted the maximum level (the one granted to “nationalities”) they needed to hold a referendum with some majority requirements. So they were seemingly bound to be “regions”, and this means that from a procedural point of view, the process to draft and sanction the “ Estatuto ” was less participative (because after being passed by the national legislature it does not need to be ratified by a local referendum), and from a self-government point of view it also means that the level and quality of the powers they could get were considerably inferior than the “nationalities”.
The regional system framed in 1978 was an open-ended one. Contrary to other twentieth century European models (Germany...