Estado autonómico, cooperación intergubernamental y conferencias de presidentes

The existence of cooperative relations is inherent to the State of Autonomies, yet cooperation among the various regional authorities has been scarce in Spain, both qualitatively and quantitatively. For a long time, intergovernmental relations hinged on cooperative sectoral mechanisms. However, concurring with the last statutory reforms, new cooperation mechanisms of a general nature own federal states have been introduced in the Spanish political praxis: Conference of Presidents and the Conference of Autonomous-Community Governments. This paper focuses on the new instruments which have been institutionalized to comply with the principle of intergovernmental cooperation. It analyses the results obtained so far and identifies the problems which need to be addressed for said instruments to consolidate and contribute to a more coherent and efficient functioning of the State of Autonomies.La existencia de relaciones de cooperación es algo consustancial al Estado autonómico, aunque en España la cooperación entre los distintos poderes territoriales ha sido, cualitativa y cuantitativamente, escasa, pues durante largo tiempo pivotó, casi exclusivamente, sobre los mecanismos sectoriales de cooperación. Sin embargo, coincidiendo con el último proceso de reformas estatutarias, se han incorporado a la praxis política española dos nuevos mecanismos de cooperación de carácter general propios de los Estados federales: la Conferencia de Presidentes y la Conferencia de los Gobiernos de las Comunidades Autónomas. Este artículo se centra en el estudio de estos nuevos instrumentos, analizando los resultados obtenidos y determinando las dificultades a superar para consolidarse y contribuir a lograr un funcionamiento más coherente y eficaz del Estado autonómico.The existence of cooperative relations is inherent to the State of Autonomies, yet cooperation among the various regional authorities has been scarce in Spain, both qualitatively and quantitatively. For a long time, intergovernmental relations hinged on cooperative sectoral mechanisms. However, concurring with the last statutory reforms, new cooperation mechanisms of a general nature own federal states have been introduced in the Spanish political praxis: Conference of Presidents and the Conference of Autonomous-Community Governments. This paper focuses on the new instruments which have been institutionalized to comply with the principle of intergovernmental cooperation. It analyses the results obtained so far and identifies the problems which need to be addressed for said instruments to consolidate and contribute to a more coherent and efficient functioning of the State of Autonomies