The Supreme Interpreter of the Open Constitution and the Bilateral Function of the Statues or the Unbearable Lightness of Constitutional Reform

Original title: El intérprete supremo de la Constitución abierta y la función bilateral de los estatutos: o la insoportable levedad del poder de reforma constitucional

Abstract:

Constitutional Court decision 31/2010 raises a problem stemming from the confluence of the constitutional roles of statutes of autonomy and the role of the supreme interpreter of the Constitution. The ruling puts an end to a broad understanding of the constitutional function of the statutes by setting limits: the impossibility of defining categories of powers, the exegesis of which is reserved for the Constitution and the Constitutional Court; and the impossibility of conditioning the powers of the state; furthermore, the redirection of the statutes of autonomy to a certain bilaterality, to the development of their ties to the State. The Court takes upon itself the task of resolving all conflicts between the laws of the State and the Statute of Autonomy and postpones the solution of numerous preventive conflicts. More than ever, if not the sole factor, the Court has become the chief factor in such an open Constitution, to the detriment of the legislative bodies that drafted the statutes. Nonetheless, the limitations on its interpretative role are far from being harsh. The only way to resolve this situation of inefficiency (failure to clearly determine the attribution of powers, loss of legal certainty and democratic legitimacy) is constitutional reform. We have the oldest territorial Constitution of Europe. It must be updated, in conformity with these constitutional experiences.

Authors:
Javier García Roca

Section: Monographic «Judicial review and Compound States: Remarks on the Constitutional Court Decision on the Statute of Autonomy of Catalunya»

Català Castellano



Key words: role of the statutes of autonomy - supreme interpreter - constitutional reform