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Again, they met a categorical denial by the conservatives: “If this is the price of
the agreement, there will be no agreement.”
34
The PP did not want to set a pre-
cendent on this matter at the same time that it was engaging with trade unions
to ressume nationwide social pacts, and, more importantly, it did not want to
open a political battle about the breach of the key redistributive mechanisms
in the system. The electoral consequences in those regions benefiting from it
would have been devastating.
The trade unions voice their concerns about the fate of social security in
the context of negotiations for the new CoC (2004-2005). They feared that
decentralizing the management of social security (art.165) would undermine
the redistributive effects of the program. Miquel Iceta, the speaker of the Cata-
lan Socialist Party (PSC) responded to these concerns directly: “The proposal
foranewEstatuto[...] does not break the common pool principle because
that is not only againt the [national] Constitution but also contrary to our
socialist ideas. [ ...] The proposal concerns only the management of social
security services in Catalonia. [ ...]This is somethingalready contemplated
in the Estatuto of 1979.”
35
Along similar lines, Zapatero insisted that “the
common pool and the unitary character of Social Security are going to remain
in place because they are part of the socialist identity and a key mechanism
of social and territorial cohesion in Spain.”
36
The decentralization of social
security was never a real issue during negotiation of the new CoC.
Finally, the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court striking down parts
of the CoC has alienated Zapatero's government from all Catalan national-
ist parties, themselves engaged in a race of demands with an eye toward the
upcoming regional elections. The new frontier is Catalonia's adoption of the
Cupo System at work in the Basque Country. In this context, CiU has removed
its parliamentary support for the 2011 budget, thereby increasing the barganin-
ing power of Basque nationalists. Without their support, there is no budget,
and the government will be put in an impossible position. Interestingly, the
central government has refused to decentralize social security even under these
extreme circumstances. They have only agreed to decentralize active labor mar-
ket policies, a long-standing demand of Basque nationalists, but not any of the
passive labor market policies that consitute the core of social security.
37
What explains this resilience, given the ability of the Basque and Catalan
parties to push for increasing levels of fiscal autonomy on the revenue side?
First, the interplay between the territorial distribution of Social Security ben-
eficiaries and, secondly, the centripetal nature of the electoral system creates
incentives to preseve a centralized social security system. Welfare recipients,
34
Source: El Pais
April 19, 1996.
35
Miquel Iceta: “El Estatuto y la Caja Unica de la Seguridad Social,”
Expansion
, October 27,
2005. “Caja Unica” refers to the principle that all social security contributions form a common
Spain-wide pool, out of which transfers to recipients are drawn.
36
Source: El Pais
October 19, 2005.
37
Source:
Spanish Parliament. Diario de Sesiones September 24, 2010.
El Pais
September 24,
2010.
