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external representation before the European Union; and finally 6) the decen-
tralization of the Social Security system. These positions provoked two different
responses. The socialists (PSOE) seek to reform the Spanish Constitution along
a federalist path
23
and the conservatives (PP) seek to defend it as it is.
In March 2000 the PP won the national election by a margin that allowed
it to rule on its own. Meanwhile, the reactivation of terrorism after the 1998-
1999 truce and growing disagreements with the PNV as to how to pursue
peace in the Basque Country, exacerbated debates about both the EA and the
path towards its reform. As a result, positions became more extreme. While the
Basque nationalists (PNV and Eusko Alkartasuna) openly advocated a radically
new institutional framework that would situate the Basque Country outside
the EA framework, albeit still “associated” with the Crown, the PP declared
the Constitution untouchable and warned against any discourse proposing
its reform, regardless of its content. After 2000, such discourse became the
axis of a neo-centrist approach to institutional reform.
24
As a reaction to
the neo-centralist approach, the demand for a reform of the Constitution of
Catalonia (henceforth referred to as CoC) grew stronger and more radical,
triggering a process of competition within Catalonia as to who could best
champion its interests. In fact, both the Catalan right-wing nationalists (CiU)
and the Catalan socialists (PSC-PSOE) put forward proposals that advocate
direct representation at the EU, adoption of a fiscal regime similar to the one
in the Basque Country and Navarra, and recognition of Catalonia as a nation
within a plurinational state.
25
In brief, due to a neo-centralist twist of the PP
in the last legislative term, disagreements regarding the EA have became more
bitter and visible.
This is the canvas on which political negotiations regarding regional financ-
ing after the 1997-2001 period began. The goal of Aznar's government was to
reach an agreement that would “close” the system, thereby reducing the lev-
els of asymmetry between the ACs in the “common system.” The reform was
23
The full contents of the socialist proposal are available in their document
La Estructura del
Estado. Politica Autonomica y Municipal del PSOE
(The Structure of the State. Regional and
Local Policy), 1998. The PSOE proposal shares very little with the nationalist proposals. The
only foreseeable points of agreement may concern the representation of ACs in the European
Union. But even that is dubious, given their fundamental disagreement as to who should be
the major collective actors. For the nationalists, not all ACs should be entitled to such a
representative capacity. For the socialists, there is no question that the existing seventeen AC
must have representation. Moreover, their proposals show further and clearer differences on
more specific aspects: equality, as opposed to asymmetry, should guide a general reform of
fiscal federalism in Spain; cooperation and intergovernmental coordination are the principles
needed for a stable development of the system; and finally, the reform of the Senate should be
as symmetrical as possible.
24
In this framework, the federalist solution proposed by the PSOE was considered a dangerous
game that objectively facilitated the ultimate goals of those aiming to destroy the EA.
25
A comparative analysis of these proposals was published by El Pais (March 2006,p.30). The
full version of the proposal by the Catalan socialists is contained in the document
Bases per a
l'elaboracio de l'Estatut Catalunya
.
