Legal aspects of regional autonomy in Spain

Abstract

The experiences of regional autonomy in Spain encourage to make the diagnosis of the current political changes, as well as indicate possible scenarios related to the constitutional and legal future of the state. In this paper the concept of regional autonomy was defined, including showing the differences between the autonomous region and the region self-government, and the European countries with a common regional autonomy, and autonomy as an exception. moreover, constitutional and legal basics of the Spanish autonomous communities and the resulting problems and prospects of development in the context of specific activities of Catalonia and the Basque country (specific provisions of the autonomous statutes, the organization of illegal referendums for independence). The separatist trends in some Spanish regions show different defects of regional autonomy, arising also questions about the sustainability of the concept of the political system and relating stability of the legal structure.