Nation profile
Aragon
Aragón
General information
Aragon is a historical country of the Iberian Peninsula, currently organized as an autonomous community within Spain, officially as a “historical nationality” (Statute of Autonomy of Aragon). Aragon was sovereign from the Middle Ages until 1707, when its autonomous laws and institutions were canceled by the Spanish monarchy. The Aragonese people sought to partially recover self-government in Republican Spain via a Statute of Autonomy (1936) that was not approved due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The establishment of the current autonomy dates from 1982, when the Aragonese Statute was approved.
A part of Catalan nationalism sees the Eastern, Catalan-speaking zone of Aragon, the Franja, as a part of the Catalan Countries.
Politics
Like all the other autonomous communities of Spain, Aragon has its own Parliament and government, vested with executive and legislative powers. Spain-wide parties have always led the Aragonese governments. Aragonese parties —be them regionalist of federalist— used to get some 25% of the votes in Aragonese parliamentary elections during the 1990s, and were thus in a position to condition the majority parties; however, since then, they have dropped to less than 12% of the votes in the 2019 Aragonese election.
Aragonese regionalism is mainly represented by the Aragonese Party (conservative) while federalist sstances are mostly taken on by the Chunta (centre-left). Both parties have to date continuously had seats in the Cortes of Aragon.
Pro-sovereignty and pro-independence supporters, besides from a small sector within the Chunta, are to be found mostly in parties with no seats in the Cortes, such as Puyalón, Aragonese State and Entabán.
Parliament and government
Government: PSOE-PAR-CHA-Podemos coalition
Head of government: Javier Lambán (PSOE), since 2015
Distribution of seats in Parliament (2019 election). 67 members:
Socialist Party (pro-autonomy, centre-left and centre) - 24
Popular Party (pro-autonomy/centralist, centre-right and right) - 16
Citizens' Party (pro-autonomy/centralist, centre-right) - 12
Podemos (federalist, centre-left and left) - 5
Vox (centralist anti-autonomy, far right) - 3
Chunta Aragonesista (federalist/sovereignist, centre-left) - 3
Aragonese Party (regionalist, centre-right) - 3
United Left (federalist, centre-left and left) - 1
(Last updated November 2019.)