The Perspective of the Reform of the Constitution of Spain in View of the Institutional Status of Autonomous Communities

Abstract Spain according to the Constitution of 1978 is a unitary state, but its whole territory is divided into autonomous communities that have the widest rights from equivalent territorial units in other European countries. The Constitution restored the possibility of creating regional autonomies, which were abolished earlier during the Franco dictatorship. However, the basic law was adopted before the foundations of regional structures were fully developed, so norms concerning the issues of autonomy were dictated in a general way. Only later legal acts regulated the situation in detail, but often their content depended on the political situation and was not always homogeneous. The creators of the Constitution did not foresee the subsequent forming of autonomous communities in the entire state territory. For over four decades of validity of the Spanish constitution, differences in the way the individual autonomous communities were established and differences in the competences of different regions have emerged. Some autonomous governments have also begun to expand their rights at the expense of the central authorities. The above factors caused a lively discussion among lawyers and politicians over the necessity of constitutional reform in the scope of the territorial system of Spain.