CONFLICTS WITH ‘NATIONALITY’ AND ‘NATION’ IN SPAIN

The demands for the recognition of the distinctiveness of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, within the Spanish State became one of the most important challenges in 1978. In fact, the writing of the second article of the Spanish Constitution  in which the "nationalities and regions" of Spain were recognized, was the most hotly debated in the Parliament. Its acceptance was not smooth: the right vigorously opposed it, while the nationalists and the left firmly objected leaving it out. The natural corollary to debating the term "nationalities" was debating the term "nation". At the end of the spectrum there were those who thought the term "nationalities" was unnecessary, or that there was only one "nation" and "nationality"-Spanish-while at the opposite end of the spectrum there were those who advocated for defining Spain as a plurinational State, that is, a State integrated by several nations. In the end, the second article was passed along with the term "nationalities" but firmly stressing the indivisible unity of the Spanish nation. It reads:

The Second Article of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards; it recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed and the solidarity among them all

The Constitution itself did not define the term, despite the diverse meanings and interpretations that its proponents and opponents had. The particular meaning that the term "nationalities" was to acquire in Spanish politics, in reference to regions, created some confusion with the concept of "nationality" with regards to citizenship. The matter was especially confused when the latter was defined in the 11th Article of the Constitution. It was suggested that the term "nationality" be changed to "citizenship" in the 11th Article, but it was considered that the terms nationality and citizenship are not completely synonymous, as it is common in other European legislations.

The Preamble to the Constitution explicitly stated that it is the Nation's will to protect "all Spaniards and the peoples of Spain in the exercise of human rights, their cultures and traditions, languages and institutions". This was a significant move, since for the "historical nationalities" part of their distinctiveness lies on their own regional languages. Furthermore, the nation became openly multilingual, declaring Castilian that is, Spanish the official language of the entire country, but declaring that the "other Spanish languages" will also be official in their respective autonomous communities. The third Article ends up declaring that the "richness of the distinct linguistic modalities of Spain represent a patrimony which will the object of special respect and protection."

It is  non-constitutional for a region or nationality to declare itself a nation while inside the Spanish Nation. It is stated that an autonomous community of  Spain can be either a nationality or a region, thus composing Spain of nationalities (Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia, Andalusia, Aragon, Valencia, Balearic Islands and Canary Islands) and regions (the rest of Spain), but this is not explicitly specified anywhere in the Constitution. Even if an autonomous community declares itself a nationality (and it does have the constitutional right to do that) that does not actually mean anything radically different from a region, since the degree of autonomy is determined both by historical identity, i.e., whether they received a Statute of Autonomy during the Second Republic or not, and by the will of the people. In the 1980s, the statutes of the "historic nationalities" were approved in a "fast track" before those of the rest of the regions. The Spanish Government does not recognize the right of self-determination for the hypothetical underlying nationalities or nations and does not respect the outcome of a regional referendum regarding the subject of self-determination or independence. The term nationality refers only to the "autonomous community", and not to its citizens. That is, an autonomous community can be a nationality, but that does not imply that their citizens (also) have the nationality of that community, but only Spanish nationality. There is only a Spanish citizenship officially recognized. Nationalities and hypothetical nations in Spain are not always based on ethnic criteria (as in the case of Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia) but on historical, linguistic and cultural facts which any person in those regions can assume and become identified with, regardless of his origin, family homeland or the fact that his ancestors belonged to different nationalities.