The Assembly of Madrid (Asamblea de Madrid) was established in 1983.
Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
Legislative: The Assembly has full and exclusive legislative power in matters coming within the exclusive competence of the Community of Madrid, by virtue of the Spanish Constitution ((available here (ES)) and the Statute of Autonomy of the Community of Madrid (see link above). These matters include inter alia the organisation of the territory, town planning and housing, public works, railways, promotion of culture and scientific and technical research, sports and leisure. Moreover, the Assembly is responsible for approving the budget of the Community of Madrid.
Non-legislative: The Assembly is inter alia responsible for controlling the Government of the Community of Madrid and for appointing various senior managers to governing bodies in the Community of Madrid, in accordance with the provisions of the Statute of Autonomy of the Community of Madrid and the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of Madrid (available
here (ES)).
List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
The Parliament includes 11 Permanent Legislative Committees:
- Committee for the Statute of Autonomy, Rules of Procedure and Members' Statute;
- Committee for Education and Sport;
- Committee for the Presidency and Justice;
- Committee for the Budget, Economy and Finances;
- Committee for Transport, Infrastructure and Housing;
- Committee for Employment, Tourism and Culture;
- Committee for the Environment and Town and Country Planning;
- Committee for Health;
- Committee for Social Affairs;
- Committee for Women;
- Committee for Youth.
For further information, see Article 72.2.a) of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of Madrid (see link above) and
here (ES).
Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
During the current term of the Assembly, responsibility for subsidiarity monitoring rests with the Committee for the Presidency and Justice.
Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
One legal advisor and one administrator are responsible for scrutinising subsidiarity.
Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic): Systematic.
Procedure: A regular and systematic subsidiarity check is carried out within a period of maximum four weeks. When EU draft legislation is forwarded to the Assembly by the Joint European Union Committee of the Spanish Parliament (Cortes Generales), it is sent to all members of the Committee for the Presidency and Justice as well as to the Government of the Community. Within five days from receipt of the EU draft legislation, the Government, or, alternatively, any members of the Committee, can request, in writing (possibly by email), that the Chair of the Committee launch the subsidiarity check procedure. If no request to launch a subsidiarity check is received within the cited period, no further action is taken.
The Chair of the Committee convenes the Committee, which requests a report on the subject from the Government of the Community, and may then appoint a working group to produce a report to be approved by the Committee and, where relevant, sent to the Joint European Union Committee of the Spanish Parliament.
In consequence, the subsidiarity check is initially systematic but becomes selective when the members of the Committee or the Government of the Community of Madrid express the desire to carry out such a check, on the basis of the existence of preliminary doubts or because the matter has particular political importance for the Community of Madrid.
The legal basis for the cooperation mechanism between the Assembly and the Government is a Resolution adopted by the Presidency of the Assembly of Madrid on 27 April 2010, available here (ES).
Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
See the answer to the previous point.
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
The Legislative Assembly cooperates with other regional parliaments via the Conference of Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, a body that promotes the institutional role of the assemblies of the regions and autonomous provinces, and acts as a hub for coordination and exchange of experiences regarding the legislative assemblies' areas of interest. The cooperation exists both on a technical level - by participating in the working group on European affairs - and on a political level - through the participation of one Member of Parliament per regional parliament in the coordinating Committee of Chairs of European Affairs Committees. For further information, see here (IT).
Cooperation/coordination at the EU 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.
