The Basque economic agreement, pact between equals or concession?
Journal of Political Studies, number 124
Pedro Fernandez Barbadillo
The Basque Concert does not fit into the diffuse category of historical rights, because it is not a right (since it is originally a State concession approved by a decree) nor is it historical (since the date of its birth appears on the legislative collection of the Council of Ministers). The weakness of the Restoration Governments allowed this legal instrument, intended to be temporary, to become permanent. At first it was a mechanism through which industrialists obtained a reduction in taxes on their properties and fortunes. Today, the Constitution and the doctrine of the Constitutional Court have subjected the powers of the Concert to the principles of equality and non-discrimination of all Spaniards based on place of residence, along with the equity and progressivity of taxes. However, there are differences in treatment that have caused a ruling against them by the European Court. Furthermore, its implementation does not imply a greater pacification of relations between the Administrations. The granting of a Concert to the Catalan Generalitat and then to other communities would mean the diffusion of a system that would break the single Treasury and open fiscal competition between the regions to attract taxpayers. The consequence would be the appearance of inequalities between populations and territories, until the European Commission would probably intervene.