Political Divisions of Spain - Autonomous Communities and Autonomous Cities

Autonomous Communities and Autonomous Cities

The autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas in Spanish and Galician, comunitats autònomes in Catalan, autonomia erkidego in Basque) constitute the first order (highest) level of territorial organization of Spain. They were created progressively after the promulgation of the Spanish constitution in 1978, as the exercise to self-government of the "nationalities and regions" that constitute the Spanish nation. In the exercise of the right to self-government recognized in that article, autonomy was to be granted to:

• two or more adjacent provinces with common historical, cultural and economic characteristics,
• insular territories, and
• a single province with a historical regional identity.

The constitution allowed two exceptions to the above set of criteria, namely that the Spanish Parliament reserves the right to:

• authorize, in the nation's interest, the constitution of an autonomous community even if it is a single province without a historical regional identity (which allowed for the creation of the Community of Madrid, which had been part of the historical region of Castile–La Mancha); and to
• authorize or grant autonomy to entities or territories that are not provinces (which allowed for the creation of two autonomous cities, Spanish exclaves in North Africa).

Even though the province was the basis for the creation of the autonomous communities, these roughly follow the lines of the old kingdoms and regions of the Iberian peninsula prior to unification.

Originally autonomy was to be granted only to the so-called "historical nationalities": Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, regions with strong regional identities that had been granted self-government or had approved a Statute of Autonomy during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936).

While the constitution was still being drafted, and self-government seemed to be granted only to the "historical nationalities", there was a popular outcry in Andalusia, demanding self-government as well, which led to the creation of a quicker process for that region, which eventually self-identified as a "historical nationality" as well. In the end, the right to self-government was extended to any other region that wanted it. The "historical nationalities" were to be granted autonomy through a rapid and simplified process, whereas the rest of the regions had to follow specific requirements set forth in the constitution. Between 1979 and 1983, all regions in Spain chose to be constituted as autonomous communities; four additional communities self-identify as "nationalities", albeit acceding to autonomy via the longer process set forth in the constitution.

While the constitution did not establish how many autonomous communities were to be created, on 31 July 1981, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, then the prime minister of Spain and Felipe González, leader of the opposition in Parliament, signed the "First Autonomic Pacts" (Primeros pactos autonómicos in Spanish), in which they agreed to the creation of 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities, with the same institutions of government, but different competences. By 1983, all 17 autonomous communities were constituted: Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile and León, Castile–La Mancha, Catalonia, the Community of Madrid, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Navarra, the Region of Murcia and the Valencian Community. The two autonomous cities, Ceuta and Melilla were constituted in 1995.

Autonomous communities have a wide range of powers, but the devolution of power to the individual communities has been asymmetrical. The Constitutional Court has declared that the autonomous communities are characterized both by their homogeneity and diversity. Autonomous communities are "equal" in their subordination to the constitutional order, in their representation in the Senate of Spain, and in the sense that their differences should not imply any economical or social privilege from the others. Nonetheless, they differ in the process whereby they acceded to autonomy and their range of competences. The cases of the Basque Country and Navarra are exceptional in that the medieval charters (fueros in Spanish) that had granted them fiscal autonomy were retained, or rather "updated"; the rest of the autonomous communities do not enjoy fiscal autonomy.

All autonomous communities have a parliamentary form of government. The institutions of government of the different autonomous communities (i.e. the Parliament or the Office of the Executive) may have names peculiar to the community. For example, the set of government institutions in Catalonia and the Valencian Community are known as the Generalitat, the Parliament of Asturias is known as the Junta General (lit. General Gathering or Assembly), whereas the Junta or Xunta in Galicia is the denomination of the office of the executive, otherwise known simply as the "Government".

The official names of the autonomous communities can be in Spanish only (which applies to the majority of them), in the co-official language in the community only (as in the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands), or in both Spanish and the co-official language (as in the Basque Country, Navarre and Galicia). Since 2006, Occitan—in its Aranese dialect—is also a co-official language in Catalonia, making it the only autonomous community whose name has three official variants (Spanish: Cataluña, Catalan: Catalunya, Occitan: Catalonha).