Spanish Politics and Society

The Institutions of Spanish Democracy: Legislatives in Spanish Politics.

Anthony Gilliland Office 20.123

anthony.gilliland@upf.edu

Introduction

The Spanish institutional system: the Cortes Generales (Parliament)

How strong is the Parliament in Spain? What is meant by strength? The theory on how to measure it. The case of Spain

The institutional system

Bicameral parliamentary system. Congress Senate

Congress is more powerful It has a say in the formation of the government Can remove a government Confirms or rejects all amendments or veto from the

Senate to any of its bills

The constitution sets out the functions of each chamber.

The Cortes (i): Congreso Size: between 300 and 400 deputies set by constitution,

electoral law establishes at 350. Election of members:

All deputies are elected by universal, equal, free, direct and secret suffrage

Electoral districts are the provinces. Electoral law sets 2 seats per district then shares the reminder

according to respective population. (Ceuta and Melilla get one seat each).

Within each district a PR formula is used so that the number of seats going to any party list is proportional to the share of the vote.

Duration: elected every 4 years Members Mandate: they represent the district as well as the

whole of Spain.

Congress...

Functions: Legislative and Control Legislative

Legislative initiative Accepting proposed legislation Introduction of amendments Bill debate and Commission deliberation Debate and vote in chamber Debate and vote on Senate amendments and vote Bill approval and publication SPECIAL CASES:

Organic laws Budget Autonomy statutes Constitutional reform

Authorisation from Congress

Congress...

Control or check function Approval of President of the Government (Investidura) Censure motions and confidence vote Questions and “comparecencias” No legislative motions and resolutions Nominations and appointment to posts in some State

organisations.

The Cortes (ii): the Senate Set by the constitution as a territorial representation

chamber. It is weaker than Congress but most important legislation requires its consent.

Functions: territorial integration, it deals mainly with regional and

local matters. as legislator, it acts as another legislative chamber but bills

initiate process in Congress (except on projects of the Interterritorial Compensation Funds). It can amend or veto bills but can be overturned by Congress.

As a check and to provide political impulse Check on foreign policy

Authorise ratification of international treaties (in this it has equal powers with Congress).

Parliamentary strength

Public policy-making influence Where influence is the ability to affect public policy

substantially.

According to theory ability to affect public policy is zero-sum with executive and is generally based on the ability of parliament to change or preclude executive bills.

The Standard classifications of legislative influence on policy

How to measure parliaments influence

Ability to reject executive bills and substitute parliamentary legislation. as percentage of bills coming from executive. as comparison of percentage of bills introduced by exec

that become law and percentage of private bills that become law.

or by looking at key bills such as the Budget in Spain. Ability to influence legislative agenda (formal and

informal) by influencing executive agenda by modification to bills

Ability to modify executive legislation Percentages of amendments accepted or qualitative

interviews to find out substance.

Electoral results 1977 to 1996

SPAIN (i):Ability to reject executive bills and substitute parliamentary legislation (i)

SPAIN (i):Ability to reject executive bills and substitute parliamentary legislation (ii)

SPAIN (ii): Ability to influence legislative agenda

It occurs more often than rejection It is very difficult to measure

Congress can affect legislation through agenda setting Formally, through non legislative motions Informally, through informal negotiations

Through in depth interviews, concludes: 1979-82 opposition regularly influenced agenda 1993-96 executive priorities were shaped by pact with CiU

SPAIN (iii):Ability to modify executive legislation

All parliamentary groups report greater ability to modify executive legislation in 1979-82

High ability to modify also in 1993-96 (specially regionalist parties)

But note: 1995 saw important organic law reforms (where consensus

is sought) 1993-96 PSOE minority government with CiU unwritten

support.

The influence of Congress

In these three quantitative and qualitative measurements based on standard comparative theory, legislative influence is seen in a zero-sum trade-off with the executive. Applied to the case of the Spanish Congress, they indicate that parliament exercised its greatest ability to influence policy in 1979-82 and 1993-96 and the least ability in 1982-86.

Congress has during certain sessions asserted independence vis a vis the executive as a transformative policy making body, while at other time it has operated as more of a rubber stamp chamber approving executive initiative. How con this be explained?

How to explain influence

Studies to explain influence have focused on three main aspects: (1) the size of or absence of majority representation of the

government party in the legislative body; (2) the degree of party unity and party discipline; and (3) the existence of a specialised committee system.

In Spain (as a new democracy) we need to consider also: (1) the special requirements of the process of democratic

consolidation; (2) the nature of legislation; (3) the formal rules affecting parliament; (4) the impact of membership in the European Union; and (5) Spain's asymmetric federal structure.

The nature of the transition to democracy and nature of legislation

Transition as consensus between united elites assembled in congress. Consensus continued in 1979-82 when parliamentary

influence was high PSOE wins bring change from consensus to majoritarian

decision-making. 1993-96 minority government sees a rise in negotiations.

Nature of legislation First legislative session set the cornerstones of the regime,

hence consensus sought for continuity. 1995 also saw important legislation

Formal rules affecting the parliament

Electoral law

The constitution and standing orders of the parliament

Membership in international organisations

Structure of state: federal vs unitary

Conclusions