The Aragonese Parliament (Cortes de Aragón) was established on 3 May 1983.
Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
Legislative: Pursuant to Article 33 of the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon, the Parliament has a legislative role in those areas for which the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon gives the region exclusive power (such as language policy, land-use planning, railways, culture, tourism, and sport). In the legislative areas where power is shared with the state, the Regional Parliament is responsible for implementing the core legislation established by the state (such as education, social security, environmental protection, energy, data protection). For further information, see Title V of the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon (Articles 70 to 80) (see link above).
Non-legislative:
According to Article 33 of the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon, the Parliament drives and monitors the work of the Regional Government. Moreover, Article 41 sets out other non-legislative powers of the Parliament, such as the election of the President of the Parliament and the appointment of senators who are to represent the region at the Spanish Senate. Lastly, Article 93(3) of the Statute gives the Parliament the role of monitoring the subsidiarity principle, stating that: the Aragonese Regional Parliament shall take part in the procedures for monitoring the subsidiarity and proportionality principles laid down by the European Union in respect of European legislative proposals affecting areas within the region's remit. For further information, see the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon (see link above).
List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
The Permanent Standing Committees include inter alia the following:
- Committee on Court Appearances and Citizens' Petitions;
- Committee on the Treasury, Budget and Public Administration;
- Committee on the Economy and Employment;
- Committee on Innovation and New Technologies,
- Committee on Agriculture, Stockbreeding and the Environment;
- Committee on Public Works, Urban Development, Housing and Transport;
- Committee on Territorial and Internal Policy;
- Committee on Health, Social Welfare and the Family;
- Committee on Education, Universities, Culture and Sport.
In addition, there are Non-Standing Committees and Subcommittees, such as the Subcommittee on European Affairs established within the Committee for Institutions and Implementation of the Statute.
For further information, see here (ES).
Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
The Subcommittee on European Affairs is in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity. It is made up of one member from each of the five parliamentary groups in the parliament.
Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
In its monitoring work, the Committee is assisted by a legal adviser, who is a long-established official at the regional parliament. Similarly, in its administrative tasks, the Committee is assisted by an official from the Legal Department.
Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic): Systematic.
Procedure: Once European draft legislation has been received, the President of the Parliament orders that it be immediately forwarded to the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups and the members of the Subcommittee on European Affairs. It is also forwarded to the Regional Government. The parliamentary groups have 10 calendar days in which they may table draft reasoned opinions asserting that the subsidiarity principle has been violated. The parliamentary Bureau or, by delegation, its chair, accepts the draft reasoned opinion, ordering that it be placed on the agenda for the following ordinary session of the Committee responsible for European Affairs. It shall immediately send a copy of the decision to the Regional Government and the parliamentary groups. Amendments may be tabled to the draft reasoned opinion up to 24 hours before the time set for the start of the session in which they are to be discussed, and once they have been accepted by the Bureau or, by delegation, by the Committee President, they shall immediately be sent to the parliamentary groups. The debate and vote on the draft reasoned opinions is carried out in line with the provisions on non-legislative proposals. If no parliamentary group tables draft reasoned opinions within the established timeframe, the European Affairs Subcommittee is convened in order to study the European legislative proposal. The European Affairs Subcommittee reports the results of its investigation to the Committee on Institutions and Implementation of the Statute on the first first ordinary session. The opinion is adopted by the Subcommittee on European Affairs. For further information, see
here (ES).
Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
Simultaneous to being forwarded to the parliamentary groups, the European legislative initiative received by the Regional Parliament is also forwarded to the Regional Government. If deemed appropriate, the latter can express its opinion on whether the subsidiarity principle has been complied with.
Cooperation/coordination at the central level
EU draft legislation is forwarded by the Spanish Parliament (Cortes Generales) to all Spanish regional parliaments. In turn, the latter may transfer resolutions on the infringement of the subsidiarity principle to the Spanish Parliament within four weeks. The legal basis is found in Act 8/1994 of 19 May 1994, as amended by Act 24/2009 of 22 December 2009, regulating the Joint Committee for European Affairs and bringing it in line with the Lisbon Treaty.
Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level
There is some cooperation through the Conference of Presidents of the Autonomous Parliaments of Spain (COPREPA), which provides a forum for the presidents of the regional assemblies to share experiences. In order to facilitate the subsidiarity monitoring by regional parliaments and the cross-regional cooperation in this field, the Parliaments of Aragon and Navarre have published a guide for drafting opinions in the context of the early warning system (GuÃa para la elaboración de los dictámenes autonómicos en el sistema de alerta temprana, available
here (ES)). This guide was presented and discussed at the March 2011 meeting of COPREPA.
Cooperation/coordination at the EU level
The parliament is part of the CALRE (the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies) Working Group on Subsidiarity. In this framework, the parliament has met with representatives of the different European institutions and national parliaments with a view to facilitating the implementation of the various conclusions drawn from the Working Group's reports.