The Madeira Legislative Assembly (Assembleia Legislativa da Região Autónoma da Madeira) was established on 25 April 1976.
Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
Legislative: The Legislative Assembly inter alia has the competence to legislate on economy and transport. Moreover, it approves the regional budget. For further information, see the Political and Administrative Statute of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, available
here (PT).
Non-legislative: The Legislative Assembly inter alia has the power to control the Regional Government.
For further information, see the Statute (link above).
List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
The Legislative Assembly includes seven Standing Committees respectively responsible for:
- General Policy and Youth;
- Finance, Economy, Tourism and Transport;
- Natural Resources and Environment;
- Social Infrastructure and Housing;
- Health and Social Affairs;
- Education, Culture and Sport;
- Public Administration, Employment and Labour.
For further information, see here (PT).
Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
The first Standing Committee on General Policy and Youth deals with European Affairs, but it does currently not scrutinise subsidiarity.
Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
There is no staff specifically in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity.
Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic): No subsidiarity checks have been carried out so far.
Procedure: Although no subsidiarity checks have been carried out so far, the following procedure is foreseen when the interests of the Portuguese autonomous regions are affected by European draft legislation:
- The National Parliament has to send the legislation to the regional parliaments;
- The National Parliament's Committee on European Affairs (CAE) can hold public hearings with the Azores and Madeira Legislative Assemblies, depending on the subject in question;
- The deadline for issuing regional opinions is six weeks;
- Despite the lack of any specific mechanism for coordinating the regional parliaments' work, once their opinions have been received, they must be analysed by the CAE rapporteur, along with the report from the relevant committee. A single opinion is thus drawn up, taking into consideration both documents, which are to be annexed to the CAE's final opinion;
- Where the views of the National Parliament and the regional parliaments differ, the differences must be mentioned in the final position, which will be that of the National Parliament;
- Where the regional parliaments take part in a monitoring procedure, the CAE informs them of its final opinion.
Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
There is no cooperation at the regional level..
Cooperation/coordination at the central level
See the description of the procedure for the subsidiarity check. In addition, an official from the National Parliament represents the Madeira Legislative Assembly in the Subsidiarity Expert Group. It should also be mentioned that, each year, the National Parliament organizes a meeting between the CAE, Members of the European Parliament, the National Parliament and the Madeira Legislative Assembly in order to discuss the EU's legislative schedule for the year.
Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level
There is no cooperation at the cross-regional level.
Cooperation/coordination at the EU level
The Legislative Assembly participates in CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies).
