The revival of general interest in the autonomous state

Abstract

In recent times, the concept of general interest has become central within the autonomous State’s framework as it has been put forward as an argument to justify certain proposals designed to face the new challenges brought by the economic crisis. However, although it is legally undetermined, this concept cannot be identified whit just any circumstance, nor can it cover any measure. The Constitution has already reflected general interest in the power distribution set in Article 149 CE in favour of the State, and also legislates that, in extraordinary circumstances, it can be used to as an enabling precondition in order to in cases which pass harmonization laws and adopt coercion measures against autonomous non-compliance. The Constitution itself also provides a source for deriving in which cases, with what limits and with which guarantees general interest should be set. Though this interest is linked to the principle of unity, the principle of autonomy cannot be ignored. As the situation is set up now, both principles are essential to our territorial structure. General interest is the interest of the State understood as a whole, and, as a result, it must be closely tied to its constituent parties.