CIAO DATE: 11/2011
September 2011
Centre for European Policy Studies
The recent constitutional reform agreed by the Spanish Parliament on 7 September 2011 aims to mitigate concerns over public finances by constraining the general government’s spending and borrowing capacity. In their analysis of this historic agreement, José M. Abad and Javier Hernández Galante find that the reform represents a major step forward, but that it must be integrated within a more ambitious programme of structural reforms, with special emphasis on areas such as the labour market and the tax system, before there can be any real prospect of resuscitating the Spanish economy. José M. Abad is an Economist at the Institute for Economic Policy, University of Leipzig and Visiting Researcher, Institute of Economic Affairs in London. Javier Hernández Galante is a lawyer and Senior Associate in the Tax Law Department, Ashurst LLP in Madrid.
Resource link: Spain's Constitutional Reform: What is seen and not seen [PDF] - 210K