Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 7.6.
The Legislative Production of the New Constitution of Catalonia
Version after Negotiations with the
PSOE in the National Parliament
(June 2006)
Version Approved by the Parliament
of Catalonia (September 30, 2005)
Art. 202.3: bilateralism as a core
principle guiding the legislation on
regional financing for Catalonia
Art. 202.4: “According to the principles
of proximity and subsidiarity, what
this Estatuto establishes prevails in
case of a legislative conflict with the
[Spanish] State”
Art. 207: Limits the sources of
contribution from Catalonia to the
state finances
Art. 209: Contributions to solidarity will
ensure similar levels of resources
provided that regions make a similar
level of “fiscal effort”
Art 210: Long list of conditions
determining Catalonia's contribution
to Spain's revenue system. Of them,
two are particularly important:
210.2.b. Equity criteria should reflect
relative population; and efficiency
criteria should reflect regional income
per capital and relative fiscal effort.
Art. 202.3: direct mention of bilateralism
is eliminated
Art. 202.4: the original article is
eliminated and replaced with the
following: “In agreement with art.
138.2 of the Spanish Constitution, the
funding for the Generalitat must not
entail discriminatory effects against
Catalonia relative to other ACs. This
principle must respect fully the criteria
of solidarity enumerated in art. 208 of
this Estatuto”
Art. 207, 209, 210 are eliminated and
replaced by a new draft of art. 208.
This draft leaves the specifics of the
financing system to further negotiation
(see
Table 7.4
for details) and
eliminates references to relative fiscal
effort. However, it introduces three
important provisions:
1. The Catalan contribution to the
common system will be re-
evaluated every five years
2. Population, population density,
immigration, and the size of cities
are explicit criteria for calculating
expenditure needs
3. The State will ensure that
implementation of the mechanisms
of equalization (“nivelaci on”) will
not alter, under any circumstances,
the relative position of Catalonia in
terms of income per capita before
equalization takes place.*
* This provision is directly inspired by the German Constitutional Court's 1999 ruling about the
FA system.
of the newly drafted CoC through an agreement with the right-wing nationalist
party (CiU), adding to tensions within the local party and with their coalition
partners (ERC).
Despite being trimmed, the new CoC implied a major step forward in Cat-
alonia's pursuit of higher levels of fiscal and political autonomy. A rich and
