Mecanismos de cooperación intergubernamental en España: entre la lógica sectorial y los desafíos transversales de las políticas públicas. Entrevista a José María Pérez Medina

Abstract

The interview with José María Pérez-Medina, a political scientist, historian, and former Director General of Regional Cooperation, analyzes the mechanisms of territorial coordination in Spain and their evolution since the consolidation of the autonomous state. Pérez-Medina examines the functioning of Sectoral Conferences as fundamental pillars of inter-administrative cooperation, highlighting both their achievements –particularly in the healthcare sector– and their structural limitations, which stem from the voluntary nature of their agreements and the tension between their political and technical character. The interview addresses the transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which represented a «leap forward» in territorial coordination and incorporated the concept of «co-governance» into the autonomous system, as well as the influence of European integration and Next Generation EU funds in redefining relations between the state and the autonomous communities. Pérez-Medina concludes that, after more than four decades, the autonomous state has successfully fulfilled its democratic and territorial recognition objectives, although challenges persist in horizontal cooperation and in the need to adapt coordination mechanisms to contemporary cross-cutting public policies –without necessarily requiring constitutional reforms, but rather through better utilization of existing instruments.