Suchergebnisse

Review: Borja de Riquer. 2016. Cambó en Argentina. Negocios y corrupción política. Barcelona: Edhasa, 574 p.

Les relations entre la Catalogne et l'Espagne actuellement approchent la fin d'un cycle amorcé avec la Constitution démocratique de 1978. Beaucoup de raisons ont conduit à une détérioration progressive de l'accord constitutionnel. La plus évidente est sans doute l'échec de l'approbation du nouveau Statut d'autonomie au cours de la seconde moitié du xx e siècle. Bien que ce Statut n'ait pas été abrogé, certains de ses dispositions ont été éliminées ou bien interprétées de façon restrictive. En théorie, quatre scenarii peuvent être dès lors envisagés : une involution « nationaliste espagnole » ; une réforme constitutionnelle qui introduirait une espèce de fédéralisme généralisé et explicite ; une négociation particulière et bilatérale pour la Catalogne à l'intérieur de l'Espagne ; la sécession.

The relationship between Catalonia and Spain is currently nearing the end of the cycle that started with the democratic Constitution of 1978. Many reasons have led to a progressive deterioration of the Constitutional agreement The most remarkable one is probably the failure in approving a new 'Statute of Autonomy' in the second half of the 2000's. Although the 'Statute of Autonomy' was not abrogated, some of its essential aspects were eliminated or interpreted in a very restrictive way. In theory, four hypothetical scenarios can be envisaged: the 'Spanish nationalist' involution; a constitutional reform that introduced some kind of generalised and explicit federalism; a specific and bilateral deal for Catalonia within Spain; secession. Adapted from the source document.

The democratic Constitution of 1978 established a decentralised state in Spain. Since that year, the Autonomous Communities (the intermediate level of government) have strongly increased their role and currently represent around 25% – 30% of total public expenditure. Therefore, financing autonomous government has become a crucial issue with important financial and political consequences. The present system is based mostly on grants from central government, while tax revenues and fiscal accountability are weak. The financing system can play an important, albeit complementary, role in ensuring cohesion within a decentralised state. On the one hand, it can achieve a certain level of equalisation in providing public services all over the territory. On the other hand, it can allow all regions to obtain an appropriate level of self-government. However, it is important to stress that territorial cohesion requires as a precondition, a political consensus and the acceptance of a common project among the different regions. Financial problems can certainly become political problems, but political problems can rarely be solved through financial measures alone. Therefore, we should not demand of intergovernmental finances what they cannot do.

Financial issues are very often behind political conflicts between or within territories. However, conflicts are not limited to the territorial allocation of resources. Three factors appear to have a decisive influence: the distribution of political power between the central and the territorial government (federal/unitary model); the economic conception of the territory prevailing in central institutions (multipolar/radial conception); and the degree of territorial diversity and the existence of «national» minorities. The analysis of the Catalan- Spanish conflict along these three dimensions allows us to reach some preliminary conclusions, which should be tested by further empirical work. The first conclusion is that - when markedly opposite preferences exist between territories concerning the issue of more or less decentralization - the only stable agreement is some kind of specific settlement with this specific territory. The second conclusion is that a federal model appears to be intrinsically incompatible with a radial, centre-based conception of the country.

The evolution of the Spanish "State of Autonomies" has been strongly marked from the outset by the problems posed by the financing of the Autonomous Communities (henceforth, ACs). To some extent, this is only to be expected. All political systems built around different levels of government, in which political power is shared between a central government and intermediate governments, inevitably generate two types of tension. On the one hand, there is the tension that exists between the central government and the whole ACs and which is generated by the distribution of this political power as it relates to all financial matters.[.]

The Great Recession has revealed serious shortcomings in the design of the monetary union, a set of shortcomings that have led to serious imbalances, above all with regards to external debt and current account balance, in the less competitive countries of the euro area (the so-called peripheral countries), as well as between these peripheral countries and the core countries of the eurozone. .

In some large European countries, in recent decades, economic globalization has gone hand in hand with a powerful trend to political decentralization (this has been the case in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain). In Spain, and after years of apparent stability, the relations between Catalonia and Spain are experiencing troubled times. This paper examines particularly the main economic effects of both the staying together and the secession scenarios. Following the introduction, the second section reviews some aspects of the relations between Catalonia and Spain. The third and fourth sections analyse different scenarios with a particular focus on the main issues that the secession scenario raises. The fifth section contains a concluding remark.

The democratic Constitution of 1978 established a decentralised state in Spain. Since that year, the Autonomous Communities (the intermediate level of government) have strongly increased their role and currently represent around 25% - 30% of total public expenditure. Therefore, financing autonomous government has become a crucial issue with important financial and political consequences. The present system is based mostly on grants from central government, while tax revenues and fiscal accountability are weak. The financing system can play an important, albeit complementary, role in ensuring cohesion within a decentralised state. On the one hand, it can achieve a certain level of equalisation in providing public services all over the territory. On the other hand, it can allow all regions to obtain an appropriate level of self-government. However, it is important to stress that territorial cohesion requires as a precondition, a political consensus and the acceptance of a common project among the different regions. Financial problems can certainly become political problems, but political problems can rarely be solved through financial measures alone. Therefore, we should not demand of intergovernmental finances what they cannot do.

Este trabajo analiza la problemática que plantea la prestación de las políticas sociales propias del Estado del bienestar en un contexto de federalismo fiscal. Mientras que tanto el Estado del bienestar como los procesos de descentralización han merecido, por separado, una gran atención por parte de la literatura, las implicaciones mutuas de ambas cuestiones han recibido, en cambio, sólo un escaso interés. Sin embargo, la realidad muestra que algunos de los gastos típicos del Estado del bienestar (como la sanidad y la educación) están fuertemente descentralizados. Este trabajo aborda en primer lugar los argumentos a favor y en contra de la descentralización de estas políticas. A continuación se examina el grado de descentralización del gasto en las principales políticas sociales: sanidad, educación y seguridad y servicios sociales. Es importante destacar la confluencia de los distintos niveles de gobierno en la prestación y financiación de estas políticas. En este sentido, el grado de descentralización del gasto no tiene por qué coincidir con el grado de descentralización en la definición de las políticas públicas. Finalmente, se realiza un examen detallado de la problemática que plantea la descentralización de las principales funciones en la experiencia comparada.

The democratic Constitution of 1978 set up a decentralised state in Spain. Since then, the Autonomous Communities (intermediate level of government) have strongly increased their role and currently represent around 25-30% of total public expenditure. Thus, financing autonomous government has become a crucial issue with important financial and political consequences. The present system is mostly based on grants coming from central government, while tax revenue are weak and so it is fiscal responsibility. The financing system can play an important, albeit complementary, role in ensuring cohesion within a decentralised state. On the one hand, achieving a certain level of equalisation in providing public services all over the territory. On the other, permitting that all regions can obtain an appropriate level of self-government. However, it is important to stress that territorial cohesion requires, as previous conditions, a political consensus and the acceptation of a common project among the different regions. Financial problems can become political problems, but rarely political problems can exclusively be solved through financial measures. Hence, we should not demand to the intergovernmental finances what they cannot do.

La importancia de los procesos de descentralización política. Los aires de los tiempos muestran hoy en todas partes la fuerza vigorosa de los procesos de descentralización politica. En Europa, por ejemplo, en los últimos 20 años el panorama de la mayoría de los países ha cambiado profundamente. Los viejos estados-nación europeos han emprendido reformas políticas que suponen un cuestionamiento básico de la distribución territorial del poder politico .