| Summary: | Reform of the statutes of autonomy was begun in 2005, three decades afterSpain began the process of territorial decentralisation and two decades afterhaving been sucessfully incorporated into the European Community. Thesereforms took on issues related to the participation of these Spanish regionsin Europe. Up to now these issues were not dealt with in the Spanish constitutionof 1978 and conflicts could only be resolved through the constitutionalcourt and some other legal and conventional mechanisms (legislativeacts, multilateral agreements or bilateral arrangements, etc.).Although each of the new statutes of autonomy adopted in 2006 in Catalonia,Valencia, Andalusia, and other communities has its own approach (especiallythe rejected proposal of the Basque Country in 2005), either bilateral ormultilateral, their treatment of the participation of autonomous communities in Europe is quite similar. On one hand, the European clauses of thenew statutes aim to strengthen and to open up the different ways that theSpanish regions participate in European Parliament —through its legislativeregional assemblies, in work groups, in the Council of Ministers, in the committeesof the European Commission, in the European Courts, in the Committeeof Regions and also in the development of European regional cooperation.And, on the other hand, the new regional statutes are devoted to improvingthe implementation of EU law, the application of EU policies, the transpositionof European regulations into community legislation, and the channellingof European funds by autonomous administrations.
|
|---|
