The jurist proposed by Moncloa for the TC defends reforming the Constitution: "The role of the State is blurred"

He gives as an example what he experienced in the state of alarm to show his "concern" about the coordinating role of the State

MADRID, 5 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Laura Díez, the professor appointed by the Government to occupy a seat in the plenary session of the Constitutional Court, defends reforming article 149.1 of the Magna Carta, which delimits the exclusive powers of the State against the autonomous communities. In her opinion, "the role of the State is blurred, and proof of this has been the state of alarm."

This was pronounced within the framework of the Conference 'Aragon and territorial Spain: a roadmap for the immediate future', which was held after learning that it was one of the two chosen by the Government, together with the former minister Juan Carlos Campo to access to the High Court.

In his presentation, collected by Europa Press and entitled 'Intergovernmental relations: past, present and future', Díez argued that in order to improve collaborative relations between the Autonomous Communities and the State, different reforms and improvements must be addressed to " clarify the role of State coordination" assigned to it by article 149.1 of the Constitution.

For the professor of Constitutional Law, the limits of coordination of the State are not clear and in her presentation she pointed out that proof of this "has been to a certain extent the state of alarm and the role of coordination in matters of Health".

It should be remembered that in March 2020, when the Executive decreed the first state of alarm for the coronavirus pandemic, Díez had just arrived at the General Directorate of Constitutional Affairs and Legal Coordination of the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory .

In his speech at these conferences, Díez did not want to go into detail about what happened during the state of alarm, but he pointed out that what happened -- the TC itself, to which he will now have access, declared it unconstitutional -- made him subscribe to that "concern" for the role of state coordination.

The professor defended that delimiting the scope of state coordination must suppose a link between this competence and those attributed to the autonomous communities and, she added, it can be carried out, for example, through the linking of sectoral conferences with conferences of presidents.

For Díez, another of the necessary reforms is that of the Senate, which should be "a territorial chamber", although he regretted that partisan interests prevent that chamber from being configured as such in Spain.

However, he pointed out that regulatory reforms are "necessary and urgent" to improve intergovernmental collaborative relations, and he maintained that the regulation included in the Constitution in this regard "is sparse and could be modified."

In this sense, Díez commented that this constitutional reform should be extended to the autonomous system as a whole because it would be of no use if "basic aspects such as the distribution of powers or financing" were ignored.

However, the professor was skeptical and said that in these terms a reform of the Magna Carta is not feasible from a political point of view. But she added that in the legal field, although the norm does not solve everything, there is a way to go.

"With the experience of 40 years of the autonomous State, mechanisms that have worked effectively should be strengthened. For example, bilateral commissions, (...) which continue to fulfill an essential function," he commented.

Lastly, Díez maintained in his speech that after studying the German political system for years, he advocates "stopping looking a bit" at the German country because it has been found that certain mechanisms "do not work at a certain time."