The Galician Regional Parliament (Parlamento de Galicia) was established in 1981.
Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
Legislative: The Regional Parliament has legislative competence in all areas recognised by the Region's Statute of Autonomy, i.e. those which do not come under the remit of the National Government and which are governed by the Spanish Constitution (available
here (EN). These competences include inter alia land use, coastal and urban development, housing, culture, social assistance and hydraulic installations. Moreover, the Regional Parliament is responsible for approving the regional budget. For further information, see Title II of the Statute of Autonomy (see link above.)
Non-legislative: The Regional Parliament is inter alia responsible for controlling the Executive and appointing senators for the high chamber of the Spanish Parliament (Cortes Generales), appointing and dismissing the President of Galicia, and lodging appeals on grounds of unconstitutionality.
List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
The Legislative Standing Committees are the following:
- Committee 1: Institutional, General Administration, Justice and Home Affairs;
- Committee 2: Land-Use Planning, Public Works, Environment and Services;
- Committee 3: Economy, Finance and Budget;
- Committee 4: Education and Culture;
- Committee 5: Health, Social Policy and Employment;
- Committee 6: Industry, Energy, Trade and Tourism;
- Committee 7: Agriculture, Food, Livestock and Forestry;
- Committee 8: Fisheries and Shell Fishing.
For further information, see
here (ES).
Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
The Committee for European Affairs.
Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
There is no staff specifically in charge of subsidiarity monitoring. This issue is addressed by the general staff of the Regional Parliament.
Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic): Systematic.
Procedure: The procedure is organised through an eight-step process that is completed in a maximum of four weeks:
- Receipt of draft EU legislation;
- Distribution of draft legislation by the Presidency to the Committee for European Affairs and the parliamentary groups;
- Initial scrutiny by parliamentary groups, leading (within ten days) to a proposal to issue a reasoned opinion;
- If no concern is raised, the procedure ends. In the opposite case and if deemed necessary, the regional government may issue its opinion within a timeframe of ten days;
- Convocation of a plenary meeting of the Committee for European Affairs;
- If deemed necessary, the regional government may submit a report on compliance with the subsidiarity principle up to 48 hours before the Committee meeting;
- The Committee for European Affairs approves the opinion;
- The Bureau of the Galician Regional Parliament submits the decision to the Joint Committee for European Affairs.
Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
When necessary, cooperation takes place on an informal basis between the Executive and the Regional Parliament.
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
There is some cooperation through CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies), which coordinates a working group on regional democracy models.
