State and Regional Administrative Coordination in Spain
the Spanish State . Similar interpretations appear over and over again in the interviews with nationalist delegates of the Catalan and Basque governments .
Nonetheless , non-attendance is also used as an instrument to express occasional disagreement with the ministry , discrepancy between the government and the opposition , and to stage party confrontations .
We even held an Interterritorial Council in Barcelona that was not attended by the PP . (…), but before , with Ana Pastor ( PP Health Minister ),
for a time the PSOE didn ’ t attend . ( Interview 5 )
It is clear , then , that these tactics largely respond to the influence of party politics in the conferences ’ daily routine , an aspect that is repeated in the other analytical dimensions considered here .
Agenda and Decision-Making . A Central Coordination Model
As noted by Warhurst , central coordination becomes an essential feature when analyzing intergovernmental relations ( Warhurst 1987 , 273 ). In this sense , the initiative of creating some Sectoral Conferences arose from the respective ministries ; this is the case , for example , with the Interterritorial Council on the National Health System and the Education Sectoral Conference , two of the three conferences analyzed here ( Arbós et al . 2009 , 143 ). However , independently of the circumstances of their creation , the ministry takes the lead from the moment the conference ’ s meetings are convened and their agendas drawn up . All the people interviewed pointed out that , in accordance with the regulations upon which the different Sectoral Conferences are based , it is the ministry that convenes meetings and sets agendas . Specifically , it is each ministry ’ s secretary of state who , in the name of the pertinent minister , calls the Autonomous Regions to the meeting .
Regarding the matters to be dealt with at the meetings , most of those interviewed point out that the agendas are essentially determined by the preparatory commissions , although the ministers have the last word and they can set or alter the agenda , including subjects that may not have been dealt with at the commission stage .
In any case , although it is true that the regulations include the possibility that representatives of the Autonomous Regions can add items to the agenda ( except in the case of the Health Conference , which does not include this possibility ), this does not commonly happen , as was indicated by one of our interviewees . In this context , matters of interest to representatives of the Autonomous Regions are usually relegated to the “ any other business ” item , with its connotation of less important issues .
The possibility exists , and the Autonomous Regions can include matters on the agenda after it has been received . This is stated in the regulations : they have a set period during which they can propose issues , but this does not happen frequently . The most common thing is for the ministry to take the initiative .... The Autonomous Regions make use of the ‘ any other business ’ section of the Sectoral Conference to discuss their specific concerns regarding a certain matter , and then the ministry takes note of these concerns and arranges a later meeting . But to include an item formally at the Sectoral Conference is very rare .
No , it doesn ’ t happen . ( Interview 7 )
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