A nationality, not a nation

FOR a decision that took four years to reach, the rewriting of Catalonia's controversial autonomy charter ordered by Spain's constitutional court on June 28th was surprisingly light-handed. The judges struck out parts of just 14 of the charter's 223 articles. A further 27 will be constrained by still-unpublished written interpretations.

The court reined in attempts to promote Catalan as the senior of the region's two official languages, above Castilian Spanish, and took away powers over local judges. A hairsplitting decision allowed Catalans to continue claiming they belonged to a nation, while stating that the claim had no legal worth. The constitution ambiguously labels regions like Catalonia as “nationalities”, but it still recognises only one nation, Spain.

Catalonia's politicians had stored away so much pent-up fury at the court's long-awaited decision, however, that they duly exploded. “The constitutional pact has reached its limits,” blasted Artur Mas, of Convergence and Union, a nationalist coalition. Separatists predicted a surge in support for an independent Catalonia. José Montilla, the Socialist who runs a three-way coalition government in Catalonia, called for street protests on July 10th.

There is much hot air in such outrage. Catalonia, which already enjoys a large dose of devolution, has an election in the autumn. Nationalists and separatists in the populous and wealthy region typically seek votes by casting themselves as victims of the central government and courts in Madrid. That said, there are some grounds for justified complaint—principally that Catalans approved the charter in a referendum, and the court has overturned their vote.

Even before the sentence was passed, however, Spain appeared to have reached the high-water mark of devolution. The centre-right opposition People's Party, which challenged the Catalan charter in court, has long felt so. Even José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Socialist prime minister, who backed the charter and won the grateful support of Catalan voters in the 2008 general election, has signalled that the latest phase of devolution is drawing to a close. Spain, he says, has “concluded the phase of self-government” and should devise ways for its 17 regions to co-operate better.

Recentralising some functions might be a way to control Spain's soaring budget deficit, 11.2% of GDP in 2009. Regional governments' debts grew by 28%, year-on-year, in the first quarter. Some regions, including Catalonia, will raise income tax. Come the autumn, Catalan politicians may find voters more worried about taxes and public services than about the trimming of their still-generous charter on autonomy.