The trident that wants to reform Spain’s Constitution

The PSOE: a federal mishmash that allows the inclusion of Catalonia’s “singularity”

A federal constitutional reform. Such is the formula that Spain’s socialist party has been preaching for two years so as to put an end to the Catalan conflict. It will become their leader’s main electoral vow in Pedro Sánchez’s attempt to win the December elections. Still, the PSOE has already experienced the difficulty of making some concessions to a particular region without irking the rest. To begin with, the possibility of including Catalonia’s right to decide —which the Catalan socialist party had originally argued for— wasn’t even up for discussion. Recognising Catalonia as a nation or allowing Catalans to have a regional funding system of their own, as demanded by the PSOE’s Catalan branch, did not get past Madrid’s filter. Eventually, the PSOE has put forward a reform proposal that is a mishmash of federal concepts, avoiding exceptions that would create controversy with its regional “barons” and ensuring that the current constitutional foundations aren’t rocked too hard.

The PSOE hopes that arguing for what they refer to as “the Catalan singularity” will be enough for their proposal to garner a majority of votes. It establishes a constitutional protection of the Catalan language and culture, as well as Catalonia’s so-called “historic rights”. Besides, they also propose a reform of the Spanish Senate so that it becomes “a true regional chamber” and the recognition of the ordinality principle; that is, that no region is allowed to drop down the income chart once its contribution to Spain’s coffers has been deducted. Following a vote of the new Constitution by all Spaniards, the PSOE proposes a “renovation” of the Catalan statute.

Podemos: going ahead with a constituent process, with or without Catalonia

To go ahead with a constituent process in Spain. In Catalonia, but also in Spain. This is the axis on which Pablo Iglesias’ election campaign will rest, which is the reason why the Podemos leader’s proposal for a constitutional reform is the most ambitious of all. To begin with, during the campaign he intends to argue for a non-binding political consultation in Catalonia on independence —as will IU— with a Yes/No ballot in 2016. Once the result is out and Catalonia’s preference is known, Podemos proposes a constitutional reform, whether Catalonia is still part of Spain or not. At present, Podemos’ central leadership is working on how to devise a strategy so that this message does not penalise them in those Spanish regions where the idea of a Catalan referendum is less popular.

Iglesias’ project, both during the campaign and afterwards, will rest on the constitutional safeguard of five large areas. One of them will be the right to decide, where Podemos supports the idea of a united Spain where its various nations are recognised. Their reform also advocates a change of the electoral system to put an end to provincial constituencies and the existing bias that favours the larger parties, which Podemos complains about, as it clashes with the principle of proportionality. Other keystones of their project are to safeguard the independence of the judiciary and to avoid having “judges that work for political parties”, as well as protecting social rights such as housing, education and health care, in an attempt to get the votes of those who supported the 15M “indignados” movement against austerity.

Ciudadanos: to strengthen central powers and corner Catalan secession

Ciudadanos have also jumped on the bandwagon of constitutional reform. However, they do not seek to afford greater powers to the regions, but to chip away at their devolved powers and merge a number of municipalities. With this proposal, Albert Rivera’s party hopes to distance itself from the PP by singling it out as the party that shuns any change while Ciudadanos takes a hard line agains Catalan secession. In fact, part of their success in the Catalan polls stems from having managed to bring together the voters who oppose independence.

Highlights of the constitutional reform proposed by Ciudadanos are scrapping the Senate and creating a council of regional presidents, as well as eliminating the General Council of the Judiciary, whose powers would be taken over by the Supreme Court. But the central spirit of the reform is to strengthen Madrid’s central powers and safeguard the State’s reserved matters. This way, no powers could be devolved to a regional government and Madrid would retain all the capacity to legislate in any region, despite its devolved powers. In the guise of avoiding duplicate administrations and cutting expenses, Ciudadanos also advocate the elimination of provincial councils and merging local councils “by force”, unless certain efficiency ratios are met. Other Ciudadanos proposals include scrapping presidential decrees and banning any political party members from joining the Constitutional Court.