Editing Autonomous communities of Spain (section)

===Autonomic pacts===
[[File:Conferencia_de_Presidentes,_17_de_enero_de_2017_-_32219744902.jpg|right|thumb|350px|The Conference of Presidents in 2017, is the meeting between the [[Government of Spain]] or ''Gobierno de la Nación'' and the presidents of the Autonomous communities of Spain.]]

The Statutes of Autonomy of the Basque Country and Catalonia were sanctioned by the Spanish Parliament on 18 December 1979. The position of the party in government, the [[Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain)|Union of the Democratic Centre]] (UCD), was that only the three "historical nationalities" would assume full powers, while the rest would accede to autonomy via article 143, assuming fewer powers and perhaps not even establishing institutions of government.<ref name=rebollo>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Auv9-CI_Mv8C|last=Rebollo|first=Luis Martín|chapter=Consideraciones sobre la Reforma de los Estatutos de Autonomía de las Comunidades Autónomas|editor=Ministerio de Justicia|title=La Reforma Constitucional: XXVI Jornadas de Estudio (27, 28 y 29 de octubre de 2004)|year=2005|access-date=3 November 2012|publisher=Dirección del Servicio Jurídico del Estado|isbn=978-84-7787-815-5}}</ref> This was firmly opposed by the representatives of [[Andalusia]], who demanded for their region the maximum level of powers granted to the "nationalities".<ref name=clavero/><ref>{{cite news |date=9 December 1979 |url=https://elpais.com/diario/1979/12/09/espana/313542004_850215.html |title=El referéndum de iniciativa, barrera no exigida a las nacionalidades históricas |language=es |newspaper=El País |access-date=16 December 2019}}</ref>

After a massive rally in support of autonomy, a referendum was organized for Andalusia to attain autonomy through the strict requirements of article 151, or the "fast route"—with UCD calling for abstention, and the main party in opposition in Parliament, the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSOE) calling for a vote in favour.<ref name=clavero/> These requirements were not met, as in one of the eight provinces, [[province of Almería|Almería]], votes in favour — although the plurality — did not amount to half of the electoral census as required. Yet, in general, the results of the referendum had been clear and unequivocal.<ref name=perez/>

After several months of discussion, the then prime minister of Spain, [[Adolfo Suárez]] and the [[Leader of the Opposition (Spain)|leader of the opposition]], [[Felipe González]], reached an agreement to resolve the Andalusian issue, whereby the Parliament approved an amendment to the law that regulated referendums, and used a prerogative of article 144c of the constitution, both actions which combined would allow Andalusia to take the fast route. They also agreed that no other region would take the "fast route", but that all regions would establish a parliamentary system with all institutions of government.<ref name=clavero/> This opened a phase that was dubbed as {{lang|es-ES|[[café para todos]]}}, "coffee for all".<ref name=tanja/> This agreement was eventually put into writing in July 1981 in what has been called the "first autonomic pacts".<ref name=nunez>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ogvsITQ0cmwC|chapter=The awakening of peripheral nationalisms and the State of the Autonomous Communities|last=Núñez Seixas|first=Xosé M|author-link=Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas|editor1-last=Álvarez Junco|editor1-first=José|editor-link=José Álvarez Junco|editor2-last=Schubert|editor2-first=Adrian|title=Spanish History since 1808|publisher=Arnold Publishers|year=2000|access-date=9 October 2008|pages=315–330|isbn=978-0340662298}}</ref>

These "autonomic pacts"{{efn-lr|"Autonomic pacts" or "autonomic agreements" (in Spanish: ''pactos autonómicos'' or ''acuerdos autonómicos'').}} filled in the gap left by the open character of the constitution. Among other things:<ref name=perez/><ref name=acuerdos>{{cite web|url=http://www.idpbarcelona.net/docs/recerca/ccaa/pdf/documentos/acuerd_auton_gob_psoe_1981.pdf|title=Acuerdos Autonómicos firmados por el Gobierno de la Nación y el Partido Socialista Obrero Español el 31 de julio de 1981|date=31 July 1981|access-date=11 October 2012}}</ref>
* They described the final outline of the territorial division of Spain, with the specific number and name of the autonomous communities to be created.
* They restricted the "fast route" to the "historical nationalities" and Andalusia; all the rest had to take the "slow route".
* They established that all autonomous communities would have institutions of government within a parliamentary system.
* They set up a deadline for all the remaining communities to be constituted: 1 February 1983.

[[File:Daoiz o Velarde.jpg|right|thumb|The Spanish Parliament, Congress of Deputies]]

In the end, 17 autonomous communities were created:
* Andalusia, and the three "historical nationalities"—the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia—took the "fast route" and immediately assumed the maximum set of powers allowed in the constitution; the rest took the "slow route".
* [[Aragon]], [[Castilla-La Mancha]], [[Castile and León]], [[Extremadura]] and the [[Valencian Community]] acceded to autonomy as communities made up of two or more provinces with common historical, economic and cultural characteristics.
* The [[Balearic Islands]] and the [[Canary Islands]] acceded to autonomy as insular territories, the latter made up of two provinces.
* [[Asturias|Principality of Asturias]], [[Cantabria]], [[La Rioja (Spain)|La Rioja]] and [[Region of Murcia|Murcia]] acceded to autonomy as single provinces with historical identity (also called "uniprovincial" autonomous communities).
* [[Navarre]], as a single province, acceded to autonomy through the recognition, update and improvement of its historical and local "law" (charters; Spanish ''fueros''), and as such, it is known as a "chartered community".
* The province of Madrid, home to the national capital, was removed from Castilla-La Mancha (formerly [[New Castile (Spain)|New Castile]]), to which it previously belonged, and constituted as a single-province autonomous community in the "national interest", the ''[[Community of Madrid]]''.

Special provisions were made for the Valencian Community and the Canary Islands in that, although they took the "slow route", through the subsequent approval of specific organic laws, they were to assume full autonomy in less than 5 years, since they had started a process towards the "fast route" prior to the approval of the "autonomic pacts".

On the other hand, Cantabria and La Rioja, although originally part of [[Old Castile]]—and both originally included in the "pre-autonomic regime" of Castile and León—were granted autonomy as single provinces with historical identity, a move supported by the majority of their populations.{{sfn|Conversi|2002|loc=}}<ref name="clavero"/><ref name=garciaruiz>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7eOCDrlpOC0C|title=Estudios sobre descentralización territorial. El caso particular de Colombia|editor1-last=García Ruíz|editor1-first=José Luis|editor2-last=Girón Reguera|editor2-first=Emilia|chapter=Dos siglos de cuestión territorial: de la España liberal al Estado de las autonomías|last=García Ruíz|first=José Luis|pages=109–126|publisher=Servicio de Publicaciones. Universidad de Cádiz|isbn=978-8498280371|year=2006|access-date=21 October 2012}}</ref> The "autonomic pacts" give both Cantabria and La Rioja the option of being incorporated into Castile and León in the future, and required that the Statutes of Autonomy of all three communities include such a provision.<ref name=acuerdos/> León, a historical kingdom and historical region of Spain, once joined to [[Old Castile]] to form Castile and León, was denied secession to be constituted as an autonomous community on its own right.{{sfn|Moreno Fernández|2008|p=66}}

During the second half of the 1980s, the central government seemed reluctant to transfer all powers to the "slow route" communities.<ref name="mundo" /> After the five years set up by the constitution, all "slow route" communities demanded the maximum transfer guaranteed by the constitution. This led to what has been called the "second autonomic pacts" of 1992, between the then prime minister of Spain [[Felipe González]] from PSOE and the leader of the opposition, [[José María Aznar]] from the newly created [[People's Party (Spain)|People's Party]] (PP), successor to the [[People's Alliance (Spain)|People's Alliance party]]. Through these agreements new powers were transferred, with the reforms to many Statutes of Autonomy of the "slow-route" communities with the aim of equalizing them to the "fast route" communities.<ref name=mundo/> In 1995, the cities of [[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]] were constituted as "autonomous cities" without legislative powers, but with an autonomous assembly{{clarify|reason=How can an autonomous assembly not have legislative powers?|date=October 2014}} not subordinated to any other province or community.

The creation of the autonomous communities was a diverse process, that started with the constitution, was normalized with the autonomic pacts and was completed with the Statutes of Autonomy.<ref name=perez/> It is, however, an ongoing process; further devolution—or even the return of transferred powers—is always a possibility. This has been evidenced in the 2000s, at the beginning with a wave of approval of new Statutes of Autonomy for many communities, and more recently with many considering the recentralization of some powers in the wake of the economic and financial crisis of 2008. Nonetheless, Spain is now a decentralized country with a structure unlike any other, similar but not equal to a [[federation]],<ref name=perez/> even though in many respects the country can be compared to countries which are undeniably federal.{{sfn|Arbós Marín|2013|page=381}} The unique resulting system is referred to as "Autonomous state", or more precisely "State of Autonomies".{{sfn|Colomer|1998|loc=}}