Defense of local autonomy in the Constitutional Court of Spain

The article examines the procedure for considering complaints about violation of local autonomy in the Constitutional Court of Spain. The study is based on the analysis of legal regulation of such a category of cases as conflicts in defense of local autonomy and the relevant practice of the Constitutional Court of Spain. The aim of the study is to identify the features of Spanish procedure for protecting the local autonomy by means of constitutional justice, to determine the main advantages and disadvantages of the legal regulation of this procedure. As a result of the analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that the mechanism for defense of the local autonomy in the Constitutional Court of Spain is not free from significant drawbacks. Some of such drawbacks are mainly procedural, based on the relevant legal regulation (among them – excessive requirements for the municipalities or provinces in terms of the number of territorial entities authorized to lodge the complaint; the existence of some formal requirements that can be abolished without reduction in effectiveness of justice). Positions rooted in Spanish legislation and practice of the Constitutional Court of Spain regarding the place and role of local self-government bodies in the system of public authorities in some cases also have a negative impact on the limits of defense of the local autonomy. Such positions are often taken from German legal doctrine, but they are not always successfully adapted within the framework of the Spanish legal system. It seems that the drawbacks noted in the article do not allow to completely attain the aims for which local bodies were empowered to apply to the Constitutional Court of Spain. Among the advantages of the procedure for considering complaints about violation of local autonomy are the flexible approach of the legislator and the Constitutional Court of Spain to a number of issues; taking into account the historical and national (including linguistic) characteristics of Autonomous Communities; the interpretation of the disputed issues by the Constitutional Court of Spain mainly in favor of the applicants. The article formulates ideas regarding the possible improvement of the procedure for defense of the local autonomy in the Constitutional Court of Spain.