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Autonomous communities of Spain
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===Legal powers=== The autonomic agreements of 1982 and 1992 tried to equalize powers ({{langx|es|competencias}}) devolved to the 17 autonomous communities, within the limits of the constitution and the differences guaranteed by it. This has led to an "asymmetrical homogeneity".<ref name=perez/> In the words of the [[Constitutional Court of Spain]] in its ruling of 5 August 1983, the autonomous communities are characterized by their "homogeneity and diversity...equal in their subordination to the constitutional order, in the principles of their representation in the Senate, in their legitimation before the Constitutional Court, and in that the differences between the distinct Statutes [of Autonomy] cannot imply economic or social privileges; however, they can be unequal with respect to the process to accede to autonomy and the concrete determination of the autonomic content of their Statute, and therefore, in their scope of powers. The autonomic regime is characterized by an equilibrium between homogeneity and diversity ... Without the former there will be no unity or integration in the state's ensemble; without the latter, there would not be [a] true plurality and the capacity of self-government".<ref name=sinopsis137>{{cite web|url=http://www.congreso.es/consti/constitucion/indice/sinopsis/sinopsis.jsp?art=137&tipo=2|title=Sinópsis artículo 137|first=Julio|last=Castelao|work=Constitución española (con sinópsis)| publisher=[[Congress of Deputies (Spain)|Congress of the Deputies]]|date=June 2005|access-date=14 October 2012}}</ref> [[File:Ertzaintza Volkswagen Bilbao.jpg|thumb|An {{Lang|eu|[[Ertzaintza]]}} police car in the Basque Country]] The asymmetrical devolution is a unique characteristic of the territorial structure of Spain, in that the autonomous communities have a different range of devolved powers. These were based on what has been called in Spanish as ''hechos diferenciales'', "differential facts" or "differential traits".{{efn-lr|"Differential facts", or, "traits" (in Spanish: ''hechos diferenciales'', in Basque: ''eragin diferentziala'', in Catalan/Valencian: ''fets diferencials'', in Galician: ''feitos diferenciais'').}}<ref name=aja>{{cite web|url=http://congreso.us.es/cidc/Ponencias/federalismo/eliseo%20AJA.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222073845/http://congreso.us.es/cidc/Ponencias/federalismo/eliseo%20AJA.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 December 2009|title=El Estado Autonómico de España a los 25 años de su constitución|last=Aja|first=Eliseo|publisher=Congreso Ibeoramericano de Derecho Constitucional|year=2003|access-date=22 October 2012}}</ref> This expression refers to the idea that some communities have particular traits, with respect to Spain as a whole. In practice these traits are a native "language proper to their own territories" separate from Spanish, a particular financial regime or special civil rights expressed in a code, which generate a distinct political personality.<ref name=aja/> These ''hechos diferenciales'' of their distinct political and historical personality are constitutionally and statutorily (i. e., in their Statutes of Autonomy) recognized in the exceptions granted to some of them and the additional powers they assume.<ref name=aja/> However a doctrine that came to be called [[café para todos]] (coffee for everyone), sought to harmonise the autonomy model across Spain while simultaneously reinforcing the primacy of the central government and dilute claims of ethno-territorial distinctiveness from the historic nationalities. In particular, the organic law on the Harmonisation of the Autonomy Process (LOAPA) in 1982 not only extended powers to the other communities to achieve similar powers as the historic nationalities, but showed an intention to reverse already devolved powers.{{sfn|Anderson|2020|p=4}} The powers to be exercised can be divided into three groups: exclusive to the State or central government, shared powers, and devolved powers exclusive to the communities. Powers can also be "executive", meaning the autonomous community may have exclusive responsibility for the administration of a policy area but may only have executive (i. e., carries out) powers as far as the policy itself is concerned, meaning it must enforce policy and laws decided at the national level. The Constitution states which powers are exclusive to the central government: international relations, defense, administration of justice, commercial, criminal, civil, and labour legislation, customs, general finances and state debt, public health, basic legislation, and general coordination.{{sfn|Spanish Constitution|1978|loc=Article 149}}{{sfn|Ruíz-Huerta Carbonell|Herrero Alcalde|2008|p=4,5}} As the Constitution had not set clearly defined methods for power sharing, particularly over shared powers, there had been major conflict because the real power of an autonomous community depended upon how far the State wanted to legislate.{{sfn|Arzoz|2012|p=182}} There is now a large body of case-law produced by the Constitutional Court to clarify ambiguities.{{sfn|Moreno|2016|page=183}}{{sfn|Anderson|2020|p=8}} All autonomous communities have the power to manage their own finances in the way they see fit, and are responsible for the administration of education—school and universities—health and social services and cultural and urban development.<ref name=howmuch>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/node/12501023|url-access=subscription|title=How much is enough? Devolution has been good for Spain, but it may have gone too far|newspaper=The Economist|date=6 November 2008|access-date=1 April 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428050210/http://www.economist.com/node/12501023|archive-date=28 April 2012}}</ref> Yet there are differences as stipulated in their Statutes and the constitution:<ref name=carreras/> * Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country, [[Civil Code of Catalonia|Catalonia]], Galicia and the Valencian Community have a regional civil code * Basque Country, Catalonia, and Navarre have their own police corps—the {{Lang|eu|[[Ertzaintza]]}}, the [[Mossos d'Esquadra]] and the [[Policía Foral|Nafarroako Foruzaingoa]], respectively; other communities have them too, but not fully developed (adscribed to the Spanish National Police) {{dubious|date=October 2020}} * The Canary Islands have a special financial regime in virtue of its location as an overseas territories, while the Basque Country and Navarre have a distinct financial regime called "chartered regime" * The Balearic Islands, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Navarre, and the Valencian Community have a co-official language and therefore a distinct linguistic regime<ref name=carreras/> The powers of the autonomous communities are not homogeneous.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.seap.minhap.es/es/areas/politica_autonomica/Estatutos_Autonomia/estatutos_materias.html |title=Estatutos de Autonomía comparados por materias |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006093822/http://www.seap.minhap.es/es/areas/politica_autonomica/Estatutos_Autonomia/estatutos_materias.html |archive-date=6 October 2014 |work=Secretaría de Estado de Administraciones Públicas |publisher=Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Públicas |language=es |agency=[[Gobierno de España]]}}</ref> {|class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" ! Power ! Basque Country ! Galicia ! Catalonia ! Others |- | '''Law, Order & Justice''' | | | | |- | Police||Partial||Partial||Partial||Partial |- | Public Safety (Civil protection, Firearms, gambling)||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Civil & Administrative Law (Justice, Registries, Judicial Appointments)||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Child & Family Protection ||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Consumer Protection||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Data protection||Shared||Shared||Shared|| |- | Civil registry & Statistics||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | '''Health, Welfare & Social Policy''' | | | | |- | Social Welfare ||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Equality||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||[[Andalusia|AN]] (Exclusive) |- | Social Security||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Employment||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Health Care||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Benevolent/Mutual Societies||Administrative||Administrative||Shared||[[Andalusia|AN]], [[Navarre|NA]], [[Valencian Community|VC]] (Shared) |- | '''Economy, Transport & Environment''' | | | | |- | Public Infrastructure (Road, Highways)||Exclusive||Shared||Shared|| |- | Public Infrastructure (Rail, Airports)||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Environment (Nature, Contamination, Rivers, Weather)||Exclusive||Exclusive||Shared||Shared |- | Economic Planning & Development||Exclusive||Exclusive||Shared|| |- | Advertising, Regional Markets and regional controlled origin designations||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Professional associations||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Workplace & Industrial safety||Partial||Partial||Partial||Partial |- | Financial (Regional Cooperative Banks, & Financial Markets)||Exclusive||Exclusive||Shared||Exclusive |- | Press & Media||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Water (Local drainage Basin)||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Regional Development (Coast, Housing Rural Services)||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Public Sector & Cooperative Banks||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Energy & Mining||Exclusive||Exclusive||Shared||Shared |- | Competition ||Partial||Partial||Partial||Partial |- | Agriculture and Animal welfare||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Fisheries||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Hunting & Fishing||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive|| |- | Local Transport & Communications (Road Transport, Maritime Rescue)||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Tourism||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | '''Culture & Education''' | | | | |- | Culture (libraries, museums, Film industry, Arts & crafts)||Shared||Shared||Shared||Shared |- | Culture (Language Promotion, R & D Projects)||Shared||Shared||Exclusive||Shared |- | Culture (Sports, Leisure, Events)||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Education (Primary, secondary, University, Professional & Language)||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | Religious Organizations||||Shared||Exclusive|| |- | Cultural, Welfare, & Education Associations Regulation||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive||Exclusive |- | International Relations (Culture & language, Cross border relations)||Partial||Partial||Partial|| |- | '''Resources & Spending''' | | | | |- | Own Tax resources||Yes||Yes||Yes||Yes |- | Allocation by Central Government||No||Convergence Funds||Convergence Funds||Convergence Funds (except [[Navarre|NA]]) |- | Other resources||Co-payments (Health & Education)||Co-payments (Health & Education)||Co-payments (Health & Education)||Co-payments (Health & Education) |- | Resources||100%||60%||60%||60% |- |Devolved Spending as % of total public spending |colspan="4"|36% (Average for all autonomous communities)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.seap.minhap.gob.es/dms/es/areas/politica_autonomica/info_basica/1finccaa/modelo_financia/finan_tot_ccaa/LIQUIDACION-MODELO-FINANCIACION-2009 |work=Ministerio de Política Territorial y Administración Pública |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318171929/http://www.seap.minhap.gob.es/dms/es/areas/politica_autonomica/info_basica/1finccaa/modelo_financia/finan_tot_ccaa/LIQUIDACION-MODELO-FINANCIACION-2009 |archive-date=18 March 2015 |title=EL MODELO DE FINANCIACIÓN DE LAS COMUNIDADES AUTÓNOMAS DE RÉGIMEN COMÚN. Liquidación definitiva 2009 |date=November 2011 |language=es |access-date=2 December 2018 |pages=13 |format=PDF}}</ref> |}
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