Autonomy statute

The statute of autonomy is the basic institutional norm of an autonomous community or autonomous city of Spain. It is recognized by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 (CE) in articles 146 and 147. The autonomy statutes are part of the legal system of the State, but their preparation and approval regime is different from the rest of the laws.

Once prepared, it will be submitted to the Cortes Generales for their approval, which will process it by law. Its reform (article 147 of the EC) is carried out by organic law, which requires the favorable vote of the absolute majority of the Congress of Deputies in a final vote on the project as a whole.

The statute includes, at least, the name of the autonomous community; territorial delimitation; the name, organization and headquarters of the autonomous institutions; the powers assumed within the framework established in the Constitution and the bases for the transfer of the services corresponding to them and, if applicable, the principles of the linguistic regime.

Background

The local fueros, municipal fueros or fueros were the legal statutes applicable in a certain medieval kingdom or to certain localities, depending on the case, whose purpose was to regulate local life, establishing a set of rules, rights and privileges, granted by the king, the lord of the land or the council itself, that is, the laws of a place. It was a system of local law used in the Iberian Peninsula from the Middle Ages and was the most important source of early medieval Spanish Law. Historiography has established "families of charters" based on the identity and adaptation of their content to that of a trunk that was extended to many other localities, in each of the peninsular medieval kingdoms:

• Fueros de Valencia
• Fuero de León
• Fuero de Sahagún
• Fuero de Benavente
• Fuero de Logroño
• Fuero de Toledo
• Fuero de Cuenca-Teruel (Fuero de Cuenca, Fuero de Teruel, Fuero de Teruel and Albarracín or Fuero de Albarracín, which are extension of the Fuero de Sepúlveda)
• Jaca or Jaca-Estella
• Fuero de Zaragoza
• Fuero de Lérida
• Fuero de Córdoba

There are previous experiences of autonomous regimes:

• Autonomic Charter of Cuba (1897)
• Puerto Rico Autonomic Charter (1897)
• Autonomous Regime of Equatorial Guinea (1964)

Autonomous regimes

There are three ways to access autonomy:

• Through article 143 (“slow”) of the Spanish Constitution (CE). The "reduced" autonomy that was designed for the "non-historical" communities, i.e., all those who had not affirmatively plebiscited the statutes of autonomy during the Second Spanish Republic.

It is accessible to all neighbouring provinces that have common historical, cultural and territorial elements, the island territories, the case of the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, and the provinces with historical regional entity, the case of uniprovincial autonomous communities such as the Principality of Asturias, Cantabria, La Rioja and the Region of Murcia (article 143).

The process initiative is carried out by provincial or island councils and 2/3 of the municipalities whose population represents at least the majority of the electoral census of each province or island. These requirements must be met within six months of the first agreement adopted. This initiative, in the event that it does not succeed, may be repeated five years.

It is also possible to form an autonomous community, when the national interest is expressed, which is determined by the General Courts, as was the case of the Community of Madrid (article 144).

• Through the second transitional provision (“fast road”) of the EC. Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country, on the other hand, agreed to autonomy by virtue of this article and the second transitional provision of the EC, more difficult, but that at the same time allows to reach much earlier the jurisdictional ceiling defined by Article 149 of the EC (where the exclusive competences of the State are enumerated).

He also agreed for this procedure Andalusia, although without the peculiarities set out in the second transitional provision, because he had not conferred affirmatively any statute during the republican period due to the coup d’état of July 1936 which would give way to the Civil War and the subsequent Francoist dictatorship. Andalusia therefore agreed to autonomy through a referendum on 28 February 1981. The process is somewhat different, since the draft Statute is carried out only by the deputies and senators of the provinces and must go through a popular referendum before being ratified by the General Courts and sanctioned and promulgated by the king.

• Exceptional way.

The EC's first additional provision protects and respects the historical rights of the foral territories (Álava, Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya and Navarra) and, according to art. 144 of the EC, by organic law, may, for reasons of national interest, authorize the establishment of an autonomous community when its territory does not exceed the province or substitution of the initiative of local corporations.

The fifth transitional provision of the EC states that the cities of Ceuta and Melilla may be constituted in Autonomous Communities if so decided by their respective municipalities, by agreement adopted by the absolute majority of its members and if authorized by the General Courts, by means of an organic law, in the terms provided for in article 144. But in 1995 their respective statutes of autonomy were adopted on a different path to this transitional provision, relying only on points 1 and 2 of art. 144.

Elaboration of the statute of autonomy

As a basic institutional norm of the autonomous community, with constitutional recognition and forming part of the legal system, it must be approved by Organic Law, its content is agreed by the Autonomous community and the representatives of the State. It is not a norm of the constituent power. It sets the basic rules of the autonomous community, institutions, powers and is the highest standard of the legal system in the autonomous community after the Constitution.

• « Slow journey» (art. 143). The draft Statute will be drafted by an assembly composed of members of the delegation or inter-insular body of the affected provinces and by the elected deputies and senators and will be elevated to the General Courts for processing as a law.

• «Special visit» (article 151.2). The government calls on the deputies and senators of the territory to form an assembly to draft the Statute of Autonomy, which was approved in absolute majority. The project is referred to the Constitutional Commission of the Congress of Deputies, and within two months the text will be submitted to referendum in those provinces.

Coordination of skills

Competences that are not exclusive to the State can be assumed by the autonomous communities, those that are not exclusive to the State and are not assumed by the Communities must be carried out by the State.

• Delegation of legislation. The General Courts may attribute jurisdiction to the Autonomous Communities in the relevant legislation, the General Courts shall give guidelines for legislation through the framework laws, which establish the controls to be exercised by the General Courts.
• Delegation of competences. The state delegates competences in the Autonomous Community, through the Transfer Act which is an organic law, which will provide for the control of competition and financial means of execution.
• Harmonization Act. When the Autonomous Communities have legislative powers, the state can dictate laws that harmonize the different laws.

Conflict of powers

The Constitutional Court will hear conflicts of jurisdiction between the State and the Autonomous Communities or conflicts between them. Article. 59 of the Organic Law of the Constitutional Court (LOTC) The Constitutional Court will take cognizance of the conflicts that arise regarding the competences or attributions assigned by the Constitution, the Statutes, Organic or ordinary Law. Article. 60 LOTC conflicts of jurisdiction that oppose the State with a Community or these with each other, may be raised by the government or the government of the Community by a natural or legal person

• Positive conflict. Conflict between the State and the community or between two communities, by invasion of competence, When an Administration believes that others have invaded its competence within two months from the beginning of the intrusion. The first Administration will make a requirement for this action to be desisted. The second Administration must cancel its performance within one month, but the first Administration may submit to the Constitutional Court the positive conflict of competence.

Navarre

Likewise, as an exception is the Organic Law for the Reintegration and Improvement of the Foral Regime of Navarra (abbreviated simply as Amejoramiento or LORAFNA, of August 10, 1982, which is the norm that provides self-government to the Foral Community of Navarra, and its foral regime, within the autonomous design and the provisions of the First Additional Provision of the Spanish Constitution of 1978). This peculiarity comes from the Navarra Agreement Law of 1841 by which Navarra already enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy since then, this law remaining in force after successive historical events, including the Constitution of 1978.

Another peculiarity is that, although the grouping of autonomous communities is constitutionally prohibited, in the case of Navarra, there is also an exception by virtue of the fourth transitory provision, which allows the union of Navarra and the current Autonomous Community of the Country Basque, communities both with peculiarities of "foral regime".

Reform

The statutes provide for their own reform in their articles, and the vast majority of them have undergone modifications over the years. Those of the slow-track communities only require agreement in the regional parliament and in Congress, and they are the easiest to reform, so they are also the ones that have undergone the most modifications. The autonomy statutes of those communities that accessed the fast track also require a binding referendum for the approval of their reform.

• Andalusia: reformed in 2007
• Aragon: has been reformed on three occasions: 1994, 1996 and 2007
• Canary Islands: the statute was reformed in 1996 and 2018
• Cantabria: reformed in 1991, 1997, 1998, 2002
• Castilla y León: has been reformed on four occasions: 1988, 1994, 1999 and 2007
• Castile-La Mancha: has been reformed on four occasions: in 1991 (L.O. 6/1991 of 13 March, art. 10.2), in 1994 (L.O. 7/1994 of 24 March, arts. 31; 32; 33; 35; 37), in 1997 (L.O. 3/1997 of 3 July, arts. 1.1; 2.1; 9.2; 10.2; 10.4; 11.3; 13.2; 13.3; 14.2; 15; 20; 21; 22; 31; 32; 33; 37; 39; D.A. Third and deletion of art. 10.5) and in 2014 through L.O. 2/2014 of 21 May, reforming the second paragraph of article 10. In addition, there is Law 25/2010, of 16 July, of the State taxation regime that is not considered reform.
• Balearic Islands: reformed in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2007
• Region of Murcia: this Statute has been reformed three times. 1991, 1998
• La Rioja: Since its adoption in 1982, the San Millán Statute has been amended twice, by organic laws 3/1994 and 2/1999
• The Valencian Community: reformed in 1991, 1994, 1997, 2002 and 2006.
• Extremadura: its Statute has been amended in 1991, 1994, 1999 and 2011
• Community of Madrid: its Statute, approved by Organic Law 3/1983 of 25 February, has been amended in 1994, 1998 and 2010
• Navarre's Foral Communion: its status (accommodation) was twice amended in 2001 and 2009.

The case of Galicia, Catalonia, Andalusia and the Basque Country has been different, whose statutes require a much more complex system for their reform, which includes the calling of a binding referendum. Catalonia and Andalusia have carried out this process in 2006. As of the 2006 reform of the Valencian Statute, the Valencian Community must also hold a referendum to carry out any reform of the Statute.

Like all the rules of the Spanish legal system, they are subordinated to the Constitution, so their reform can be appealed to the Constitutional Court.

List of autonomy statutes

Position	Name	Adoption	Latest reform
1.a	Basque Country	1979-12-18/118 December 1979 (LO 3/1979)
2.a	Catalonia	1979-12-18/218 December 1979 (LO 4/1979)	2006-07-1919 July 2006 (LO 6/2006)
3.a	Galicia	1981-04-06/36 April 1981 (LO 1/1981)
4.a	Andalusia	1981-12-30/430 December 1981 (LO 6/1981)	2007-03-1919 March 2007 (LO 2/2007)
5.a	Principality of Asturias	1981-12-30/530 December 1981 (LO 7/1981)
6.a	Cantabria	1981-12-30/630 December 1981 (LO 8/1981)
7.a	La Rioja	1982-06-09/79 June 1982 (LO 3/1982)
8.a	Region of Murcia	1982-06-09/89 June 1982 (LO 4/1982)
9.a	Valencian Community	1982-07-01/91 July 1982 (LO 5/1982)	2006-04-1010 April 2006 (LO 1/2006)
10.a	Aragon	1982-08-10/1010 August 1982 (LO 8/1982)	2007-04-2020 April 2007 (LO 5/2007)
11.a	Castilla-La Mancha	1982-08-10/1110 August 1982 (LO 9/1982)
12.a	Canary Islands	1982-08-10/1210 August 1982 (LO 10/1982)	2018-11-066 November 2018 (LO 1/2018)
13.a	Navarra	1982-08-10/1310 August 1982 (LO 13/1982)
14.a	Extremadura	1983-02-25/1425 February 1983 (LO 1/1983)	2011-01-2828 January 2011 (LO 1/2011)
15.a	Balearic Islands	1983-02-25/1525 February 1983 (LO 2/1983)	2007-02-2828 February 2007 (LO 1/2007)
16.a	Community of Madrid	1983-02-25/1625 February 1983 (LO 3/1983)
17.a	Castilla y León	1983-02-25/1725 February 1983 (LO 4/1983)
18.a	Ceuta	1995-03-13/1813 March 1995 (LO 1/1995)
19.a	Melilla	1995-03-13/1913 March 1995 (LO 2/1995)