Debate on local and regional democracy in Spain
Spring Session of the Congress
13-14 March 2008 - Malaga, Spain
Francisco de la Torre Prados: ''The imbalance
between the Autonomous Communities and local authorities has
been redressed''
''The decentralisation process in Spain has not resulted in a new
centralisation of powers in the capitals of the Autonomous
Communities'' Francisco de la Torre Prados, Mayor of Malaga, said
today during the debate on local and regional democracy in Spain.
He added ''Local authorities have gradually received the resources
needed to redress the imbalance in favour of the Autonomous
Communities, noted by the Congress in Recommendation 121 (2002).''
He moreover asked the Congress to delete this paragraph from the
recommendation as it was no longer relevant. In conclusion, he
said ''The Autonomous Communities and the Spanish government have
kept their promises.''
Maria Tena: “Major reforms have been achieved at local and regional level in Spain as a result of the diagnosis carried out by the Congress”
''The high turnout in the 9 March elections is a sign of a
healthy democracy'', said Maria Tena, Director General for Local
Administration, addressing the Spring Session of the Congress. ''Spain
has gone in a very short time from a centralised state model to
one characterised by a high degree of political decentralisation'',
she added, stressing the importance of the assessment given by the
Congress in Recommendation 121(2002) on the situation of local and
regional democracy in Spain. In her speech she also mentioned the
reforms to the statutes of the autonomous communities, which are
based on the principles of subsidiarity, proportionality,
differentiation and budgetary autonomy laid down in the European
Charter of Local Self-Government.