STATUTE OF AUTONOMY OF CATALONIA

The 'Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia' is its basic institutional regulations. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia, the political institutions of the Catalan nationality, their competences and relations with Spain and the financing of the Government of Catalonia.^[1]
This Law was approved in referendum by the citizens on 18th June 2006 and substitutes the Statute of Sau, which dated from 1979.

Contents

History

Self-government under the statute

Criticism

See also

References

External links

History

In 1919, a first project of Statute was started by the Mancomunitat de Catalunya.
In 1928, a project of Constitution was written in Havana for some exiled nationalists.
Catalonia first obtained a Statute of Autonomy in 1932, during the Second Spanish Republic. This law was abolished by General Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War, largely because Catalonia had been a region opposed to the Nationalist forces, and during his rule Catalan culture, language, and self-rule were harshly suppressed.
In 1979, during the Spanish transition to democracy, the second Statute was approved in referendum.
On June 18, 2006, a referendum amending the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 1979 to further expand the authority of the Catalan government was approved, and became effective as of August 9 2006.
From the total votes, 73.24% were in favour of the new Statute, while 20.57% were against. Still, this referendum was noted for its unprecedently high abstention with a turnout of 48.85%.^[2]
It was also noted for its uneasy forging, since tensions regarding its final redaction within the coalition government which originally promoted the Statute led to an early regional election in 2006.

Self-government under the statute

Catalonia is an Autonomous Community in the Kingdom of Spain, with the status of historical region in the Spanish Constitution of 1978. In September 2005, the Parliament of Catalonia approved the definition of Catalonia as a nation in the preamble^[3] of the new Statute of Autonomy (autonomous basic law). In the opinion of the Spanish Government, this does have a declaratory but not legal value, since the Spanish Constitution recognizes the indissoluble "unity of the Spanish Nation". This said, Spain can now be argued to have a federal structure in practice.
The Generalitat de Catalunya is the institution in which the self-government of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat and the Executive Council or Government of Catalonia.
The Statute of Autonomy gives the Generalitat of Catalonia the powers which enable it to carry out self-government. These can be exclusive, concurrent and shared with the Spanish State or executives.^[4] The Generalitat holds jurisdiction in various matters of culture, education, health, justice, environment, communications, transportation, commerce, public safety and local governments. Catalonia has its own police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, although the Spanish government keep agents in the region for matters relating to borders control, terrorism and immigration.
Most of the justice system is administered by Spanish judicial institutions. The legal system is uniform throughout Spain, with the exception of so-called "civil law", which is administered separately within Catalonia [2].

Criticism

A number of intelectuals have criticized what they describe as an "identitary obsession"^[5] amongst most of Catalan politicians and the media establishment. They quote the unprecedently high abstention in the referendum regarding the Statute as a symptom of those cited sectors being out of synch with the average populace.
As a result of this opinion trend, a new political party sprung out Ciutadans - Partido de la Ciudadanía. It entered the Catalan Parliament after the 2006 Catalan Parliament election, held soon after the Statute was passed, thus becoming the sixth political party with representation in this Parliament.
On the opposite side, Catalan left-wing separatists, particularly those close to Esquerra Independentista and, to a lesser degree, ERC, think that the statute doesn't give Catalonia enough autonomy. They cite the high abstention as proof that Catalans wanted further self-government but felt disappointed with the statute.
Again on the opposite side, the main Spanish conservative (as of 2007 in the opposition) Partido Popular, has dubbed as unconstitutional the new text amended in 2006, thus taking it to the Constitutional Court of Spain to assess the constitutionality of a number of articles, basically on the grounds that the new redaction breaks the "solidarity between regions" principle enshrined by the Spanish Constitution. The binding assessment of the Constitutional Court is expected for shortly after the summer of 2007.

See also

★ Catalonia

★ Generalitat de Catalunya

★ Autonomous communities of Spain

★ Spanish transition to democracy

★ Statute of Autonomy

References

1.
Official web of the Generalitat de Catalunya
2. [1]
3. Preamble of the ''Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia'', Generalitat of Catalonia
4.
Competencies of the Generalitat - Official web
5. [3]

External links

★ Full text of the 2006 Statute (in PDF)

★ Full text of the 2006 Statute

★ Catalonia endorses autonomy plan BBC News. 19 June 2006.