Galician Statute of Autonomy (1936) - Drafting The Document

Drafting The Document

In 1931, shortly after the establishment of the Spanish Second Republic, the Seminario de Estudos Galegos (Galician Studies Seminar) presented an early draft for a Statute of Autonomy. It stated:

Article 1. Galicia is a free State within the Spanish Federal Republic

Article 2. The official languages in the Galician State are, indistinctly, Galician and Spanish
Civil servants must know the Galician language
Article 3. The national colours of Galicia are white and blue
Article 4. The territory of Galicia embraces the four old provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Pontevedra and Ourense
Article 5. Any neighbouring territory may join Galicia if that is approved by two thirds of their population (...)
Article 6. A Galician citizen is:

a) Anyone born of Galician parents in Galician territory

b) Anyone born of Galician father or mother, even if born abroad, if that is their wish (...)

c) Anyone not born in Galicia and/or without Galician ascendancy if they are officially residing in Galicia

Building on that, a more elaborated draft arrived in 1932, when the Mayor of Santiago de Compostela, Raimundo López Pol, called for a meeting of all the Galician municipalities to discuss the text. That first meeting took place in Compostela on July 3. The editing committee was composed by Manuel Lugrís, Alexandre Bóveda and Salvador Cabeza de León. They wrote a Statute containing 49 articles. It was divided in six parts: 1) Prologue; 2) Regional powers; 3) Faculties and abilities of the region; 4) Regional tax and revenue; 5) General remarks; 6) Temporary dispositions.

This project defined Galicia as a democratic autonomous region within the Spanish State, with the aspiration of transforming the State into a federal republic. It established both Galician and Spanish as official languages. Most significantly, it granted the Galician government a number of powers, including the financial system (management and control of taxes and the economy), with the possibility to nationalize. It also established the functioning of the Parliament, the electoral system, and the role and functions of the President of Galicia.