Since September 19, 2023, Basque, Catalan and Galician have been resonating in the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, which until now had been accustomed to Castilian, the only language allowed in the chamber. This demand of the autonomist movements was satisfied by the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez (since 2018), to gain their good graces and thus remain in power despite the second place of the socialists in the legislative elections of July 23.
Contemporary Spain is marked by the model of autonomies based on several nationalities. It protects the cultural and linguistic identities of different regions; it dates back to the period of democratic transition permitted by the death of Francisco Franco (1892-1975) and the adoption of a new Constitution in 1978. The desire was then to turn one’s back on decades of authoritarian regime (1939-1977) and the denial of local languages other than Castilian. The return to democracy is made through a series of reforms leading to a general amnesty for all political prisoners, the legalization of multiparty politics, the restoration of freedom and the establishment of the Statute of Autonomy.
Powerful regions
Seventeen autonomous communities were formed between 1979 and 1983 on the basis of common historical, cultural and economic criteria, and each had an elected assembly and a government with executive and administrative functions. The originality of this system was that it was asymmetrical, with each having more or less powers. Thus, in the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands, the regional languages had co-official status in their territories. The first three, which already had special status before the Civil War (1936-1939), enjoyed the greatest autonomy. The Basque Country, Navarre and the Canary Islands enjoyed a financial regime that was an exception to common law. The former even had its own police force, the Ertzaintza, to manage public order, as did the Catalans with the Mossos d’Esquadra. Regular transfers of skills, particularly those of education and health, and financial capacities were voted during the following decades. Finally, Basques and Catalans benefit from one of the highest GDPs per capita in the country (32,925 and 29,942 euros, respectively, in 2021), higher than the national average (25,498).
The Spanish political system has long been stabilised around a two-party system in which only the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and the Popular Party (PP) have access to the central state executive. But they can rarely govern without the support of a third, peripheral movement. The Basque and Catalan regionalist parties, such as the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), use this position to obtain parliamentary majorities to assert their demands for special treatment.
The issue of Catalan independence remains particularly lively and controversial; it reached its peak during the self-determination referendum of 1 October 2017 organised by the nationalists and condemned by Madrid. The placing of the autonomous community under supervision for several months and the arrest of the main leaders deemed responsible for the situation strained relations between Barcelona and the central government, while dividing Catalan society and sparking passionate debates on the nature of the Spanish state.
It is in this context that, following the financial crisis of 2008 and the austerity measures imposed, Spain moved to a multi-party system, with the emergence of the left-wing movement Podemos, Ciudadanos (liberal centre) and Vox (extreme right), which fragmented the political landscape and made decision-making more complex within coalitions.
Central instability
At the head of Spain since 2018, the socialist Pedro Sánchez has already had to ally himself with Podemos, due to the lack of an absolute majority in Congress. Despite a rather flattering economic, social and societal record, he has been criticized by his opponents for the concessions made to the Catalan separatists. After a heavy defeat in the municipal elections of May 2023 – the PSOE lost 1,557 councilors, while the PP won 3,048 more and Vox established itself – he decided to bring forward the legislative elections by six months. The bet proved risky, but a winning one: the second place of the PSOE with its 121 deputies (out of 350) does not prevent it from being in a favorable position. If the PP obtained 137 seats, its alliance with Vox (33) does not allow it to reach the absolute majority of 176 votes, by four. It is therefore in the minority compared to the socialists and the Sumar coalition (31), the fourth political force in the country, bringing together around fifteen radical left parties, without forgetting the Basque and Catalan nationalists.
Their total of 25 deputies puts them at the center of the game. They are demanding an amnesty law for all the secessionists of 2017 who are still on the run, as well as a referendum on the self-determination of the peoples of Spain. Pedro Sánchez’s room for maneuver is narrow, and the possibility of new elections is real. Against a backdrop of inflation and loss of purchasing power, the pressure is strong for the left in the face of an opposition that accuses it of endangering the unity of Spain.
Spain: one territory, autonomous communities
