Crafting Spain's Constitution: A Story of Consensus and Autonomy

The Constitutional Process

Within weeks of his election, the courts began the work for drafting the Constitution. The Cortes in 1977 immediately became Constituent Cortes.

A Constitutional Commission was elected, and seven members were chosen to produce a first draft of the constitutional text. These seven members, the "fathers of the constitution," were Gabriel Cisneros, Miguel Herrero de Mignon, and José Pedro Pérez Llorca (UCD); Gregorio Peces-Barba (PSOE); Pauline Julien (PCE); Miquel Roca, representing Catalan and Minority PNV; and Manuel Fraga (AP). The absence of a representative of the PNV, linked to the question of "historical rights," had serious consequences because the main Basque nationalist party ultimately did not support the constitutional text.

The word most frequently used in the process of drafting the constitution was "consensus." This was to avoid the sad Spanish tradition of "party constitutions" that had marked especially our nineteenth century. Those issues that raised the greatest differences were worded so that they could be accepted by the various political forces. This is the reason for the ambiguity that can be found in some articles of the Constitution.

Following its debate in Congress and the Senate, the final text was adopted at the plenary of the Congress of Deputies by 316 votes in favor, 6 against, and 3 abstentions. Finally, the draft constitution was submitted to a referendum of citizens on 6 December 1978. The Constitution was approved with 87.87% of votes.

The Pre-Autonomic Process

Given the desire for self-government of Basques and Catalans, manifested dramatically on Sept. 11 when a million and a half Catalans marched for autonomy in Barcelona, the Suarez government began the autonomic process before the adoption of the Constitution.

Suarez chose the formal restoration of the Generalitat in September 1977, and in the Basque Country in December of that year, he established the General Basque Council as a pre-autonomous system for the region. In early 1978, Catalonia and the Basque Country were autonomic regions. Between April and October 1978, pre-autonomous agencies were created by decree-law for the government of Galicia, Asturias, Castilla-Leon, Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencia, Extremadura, Andalusia, Murcia, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands.

Given the demands of Catalan and Basque autonomy, and to a lesser extent from Galicia, the UCD government opted to promote the generalization of the principle of regional autonomy. It was what is colloquially called "coffee for all" and foreshadowed the constitutional future of the territorial structure of Spain.