Editing Autonomous communities of Spain (section)

===Constitution of 1978===
{{Main|Spanish Constitution of 1978}}
{{See also|Political divisions of Spain}}
[[File:Primera página de la Constitución española de 1978, con escudo de 1981.jpg|thumb|First page of the Spanish Constitution.]]
The starting point in the territorial organization of Spain was the second article of the constitution,<ref name=perez>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SnZBb6pIZkC|title=El Funcionamiento del Estado Autonómico|chapter=Desarrollo y Evolución del Estado Autonómico: El Proceso Constituyente y el Consenso Constitucional|trans-title=The Functioning of the Autonomous State|trans-chapter=Development and Evolution of the Autonomous State: The Constituent Process and the Constitutional Consensus|last=Pérez Royo|first=Javier|editor-last=Hernández Lafuente|editor-first=Adolfo|pages=50–67|publisher=Ministerio de Administraciones Públicas|date=December 1999|access-date=7 October 2012|isbn=978-8470886904|language=es}}</ref> which reads:

{{Blockquote|The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards; it recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed and the solidarity among them all.|Second Article of the Spanish Constitution of 1978}}

The constitution was rather ambiguous on how this was to take place.{{sfn|Colomer|1998|loc=}}<ref name=nunez/> It does not define, detail, or impose the structure of the state;<ref name=portero/><ref name=perez/> it does not tell the difference between "nation" and "nationality"; and it does not specify which are the "nationalities" and which are the "regions", or the territories they comprise.<ref name=perez/><ref name=clavero>{{cite web|url=http://www.fundacioncajamar.es/mediterraneo/revista/me1003.pdf |title=Un balance del Estado de las Autonomías |last=Clavero Arévalo |first=Manuel |work=Colección Mediterráneo Económico, num. 10. |publisher=Fundación Caja Rural Intermediterránea |year=2006 |access-date=7 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409105900/http://www.fundacioncajamar.es/mediterraneo/revista/me1003.pdf |archive-date=April 9, 2010 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=perez/> As such, the outcome of this exercise was not predictable<ref name=barberia>{{cite news|url=http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2012/09/30/actualidad/1349028022_631925.html|title=¿Reformamos la Constitución?|last=Barbería|first=José Luis|date=30 September 2012|newspaper=[[El País]]|access-date=23 September 2012}}</ref> and its construction was deliberately open-ended;<ref name=frans>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u8gZklxHTMUC|title=Regionalism after Regionalisation. Spain, France and the United Kingdom|first=Frans|last=Schrijver|publisher=Vossiupers UvA. Amsterdam University Press|date=30 June 2006|isbn=978-9056294281|access-date=14 October 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref name=sinopsis143>{{cite web |url=http://www.congreso.es/consti/constitucion/indice/sinopsis/sinopsis.jsp?art=143&tipo=2|title=Sinópsis artículo 143|work=Constitución española (con sinópsis) |last=Alonso de Antonio|first=José Antonio| publisher=[[Congress of Deputies (Spain)|Congress of the Deputies]]|date=June 2003|access-date=29 January 2012}}</ref>

In order to exercise this right, the constitution established an open process whereby the "nationalities and regions" could be constituted as "autonomous communities". [[provinces of Spain|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 of Spain|municipalities]]). The constitution stipulated that the following could be constituted as autonomous communities:{{sfn|Spanish Constitution|1978|loc=Articles 143-158}}
* 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:{{sfn|Spanish Constitution|1978|loc=Article 143}}
* 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).

[[File:Parlamento_Vasco.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Basque Parliament]] or the ''Eusko Legebiltzarra'', in session.]]

The constitution also established two "routes" to accede to autonomy. The "fast route" or "fast track",<ref name=nunez/> also called the "exception",<ref name=perez/> was established in article 151, and was implicitly reserved for the three "historical nationalities"<ref name=clavero/><ref name=sinopsisDT2>{{cite web|url=http://www.congreso.es/consti/constitucion/indice/sinopsis/sinopsis.jsp?art=2&tipo=4|title=Sinópsis Disposición Transitoria 2|publisher=[[Congress of Deputies]]|first=José Antonio|last=Alonso de Antonio|date=December 2003|access-date=29 September 2012}}</ref><ref name=brit>"[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-70303/Spain Regional Government]". Spain. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'' Accessed 10 December 2007</ref>—[[Catalonia]], the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]] and [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], regions with strong regional identities{{sfn|Keating|2006|p=22}}—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).<ref name=sinopsisDT2/> Otherwise, the constitution required the approval of three-fourths of the municipalities involved whose population would be at least the majority of the electoral census of each province, and required the ratification through a [[referendum]] with the affirmative vote of the absolute majority of the electoral census of each province (that is, of all registered citizens, not only of those who would vote).

While the constitution was still being drafted, and self-government seemed likely to be granted only to the "historical nationalities", there was a popular outcry in [[Andalusia]], demanding self-government as well, which led to the creation of a quicker process for that region, which eventually self-identified as a "historical nationality" as well. In the end, the right to self-government was extended to any other region that wanted it.{{sfn|Keating|2006|p=22}}

The "slow route" or "slow track",<ref name=nunez/> also called the "norm",<ref name=perez/> was established in Article 143. This route could be taken—via the first transitory disposition—by the "pre-autonomic regimes" that had been constituted in 1978, while the constitution was still being drafted, if approved by two-thirds of all municipalities involved whose population would sum up to at least the majority of the electoral census of each province or insular territory. These communities would assume limited powers ({{langx|es|competencias}}) during a provisional period of 5 years, after which they could assume further powers, upon negotiation with the central government. However, the constitution did not explicitly establish an institutional framework for these communities. They could have established a parliamentary system like the "historical nationalities", or they could have not assumed any legislative powers and simply established mechanisms for the administration of the powers they were granted.<ref name=perez/>

The constitution also explicitly established that the institutional framework for these communities would be a [[parliamentary system]], with a Legislative Assembly elected by [[universal suffrage]], a [[cabinet (government)|cabinet]] or "council of government", a president of such a council, elected by the Assembly, and a High Court of Justice. They were also granted a maximum level of devolved powers.

[[File:Carles_Puigdemont_el_10_d'octubre_de_2017.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Parliament of Catalonia]] or the ''Parlament de Catalunya'', in 2017.]]

While the constitution did not establish how many autonomous communities were to be created, on 31 July 1981, [[Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo]], then the [[prime minister of Spain]] and [[Felipe González]], leader of the opposition in Parliament, signed the "[[First Autonomic Pacts]]" (''Primeros pactos autonómicos'' in Spanish), in which they agreed to the creation of 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities, with the same institutions of government, but different competences.<ref name=pactos>Aparicio, Sonia. [http://www.elmundo.es/especiales/2005/06/espana/estatutos_autonomia/historia2.html Los Pactos Autonómicos]. El Mundo. España</ref> By 1983, all 17 autonomous communities were constituted: [[Andalusia]], [[Aragon]], [[Asturias]], the [[Balearic Islands]], the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]], the [[Canary Islands]], [[Cantabria]], [[Castile and León]], [[Castile–La Mancha]], [[Catalonia]], the [[Community of Madrid]], [[Extremadura]], [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], [[La Rioja (Spain)|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".{{sfn|Spanish Constitution|1978|loc=Article 145}} 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.<ref name=gonzalez>{{cite web|url=http://congreso.us.es/cidc/Ponencias/federalismo/IgnacioGonzalez.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222190640/http://congreso.us.es/cidc/Ponencias/federalismo/IgnacioGonzalez.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 December 2009|title=La Prohibición de la Federación entre Territorios Autónomos en el Constitucionalismo Español|last=González García|first=Ignacio|publisher=Congreso Iberoamericano de Derecho Constitucional|access-date=20 October 2012}}</ref>

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.<ref name=transitorias>{{cite web|url=http://www.congreso.es/consti/constitucion/indice/titulos/articulos.jsp?ini=1&fin=9&tipo=4|title=Disposiciones transitorias|work=Constitución española|author=Congreso de los Diputados|year=1978|access-date=22 October 2012}}</ref>

However [[Autonomous communities of Spain#Degree of financial autonomy|one aspect of this asymmetry]] in powers between regions is a cause of friction, namely that the Basque-speaking areas ([[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque Country]] and [[Navarra]]) 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.{{sfn|Keating|2006|p=22}} These two regions or communities are known as "chartered" territories,{{efn-lr|name=lurraldeak|"Historical territories" or "chartered territories" (in Spanish: ''territorios históricos'' or ''territorios forales'', in Basque: ''lurralde historikoak'' or ''foru lurraldeak'').}}<ref name=adicionales>{{cite web|url=http://www.congreso.es/consti/constitucion/indice/titulos/articulos.jsp?ini=1&fin=4&tipo=3|title=Disposiciones transitorias|work=Constitución española|author=Congreso de los Diputados|year=1978|access-date=22 October 2012}}</ref>
In all other communities, all taxes are levied and collected by or for the central government and then redistributed among all.