LOS EFECTOS DE LA SENTENCIA 31/2010 EN EL CATÁLOGO DE DERECHOS, DEBERES Y PRINCIPIOS DEL ESTATUTO DE AUTONOMÍA DE CATALUÑA: UNA DESACTIVACIÓN MÁS APARENTE QUE REAL

• Published in: Revista d'estudis autonòmics i federals no. 12; pp. 61 - 91
• Main Author: Mercè Barceló i Serramalera
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Catalan
• Published: Institut d'Estudis de l'Autogovern 01-03-2011
• Subjects: agreed interpretation; efficiency of laws; guiding principles; state of autonomy; statutory laws
• ISSN: 1886-2632; 1886-2632

Constitutional Court Ruling 31/2010 does not declare the nullity of any ofthe precepts of Section 1, although it cannot be stated that its content istotally unscathed; firstly, because it has been reached by agreed interpretationand secondly, because it partakes in the downgrading that the ConstitutionalCourt Ruling is undertaking of the normative category “state of autonomy”: here, through an attempt to transform laws into mere mandates.In spite of this, the encumbrance cannot be magnifi ed either. Thereforeit should be taken into account that it is not obvious what content islinked to an agreed interpretation that creates a new previously inexistentrule that requires interpretation or which determines its content withoutexcluding other possible meanings. In these cases the autonomous legislator can move with complete freedom outside the prescribed limits; and beforethe judge a new question is raised that cannot be resolved by him or herselfbut must go to the Constitutional Court. On the other hand, the downgradingof statutory rights to mere mandates is not convincing either. It is true that they generally rely heavily on the law in terms of their content. But togo from stating that they exclusively contain mandates to the autonomouslegislator means ignoring the specifi c terms of the regulatory formulationof these laws, even though their fine tuning is referred to law. What is doesnot exclude is that, the Statute being the direct rule of application of lawsrecognised in this way, they also have, if their formulation so permits, immediateenforceability in the courts. It is therefore defended that both the attempt to downgrade the nature of statutory laws to mandates and that ofweakening its original content through open interpretative or reasoning orreasoning that is not backed up produces a deactivation that is more apparentthan real in Section I of the State of Autonomy of Catalonia.