Spain

Review of Public Administration

Study Visits

Study visit to Spain

Background

After more than 30 years of dictatorship, Spain was transformed in the late 1970s into a constitutional monarchy. The Spanish State is founded on the Constitution of 1978 which, while proclaiming the unity of the Spanish nation, also recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government of the nationalities and regions of which it is composed.
The Constitution provides for the government and administration of Spain by:
       the State Government – located in Madrid
       Autonomous Regions (17)
       Provinces (50)
       Municipalities (8089)
Spain characterizes itself as "the State of the Autonomies" and the principle of the devolution of power informs dialogue at all political and administrative levels. The process of devolution is still, however, a developing one and the 17 Autonomous Regions vary both in the extent to which they have assumed responsibilities from central government through their "Statutes of Autonomy" and in the degree to which they are actively seeking further powers. A Constitutional Court supervises, and can overturn, the decisions of central Government and Autonomous Regions, and can also rule on the allocation of powers and disputes arising between the two entities.

Monarchy

The Chief of State is King Juan Carlos I. He has no powers other than those ascribed to him by the Constitution and other legal instruments.

Parliament

The national parliament is the Cortes Generales which is bicameral:

The Congress of Deputies (lower house) which has 350 members representing Spain’s 50 provinces who are elected on a party list system by proportional representation.

The Senate (upper house) which has 259 members
  • 208 elected from the provinces
  • 51 designated by the autonomous regions.
The Cortes Generales is the law-making body for the State, but cannot legislate on behalf of the autonomous communities on devolved issues which are embedded in their statutes of autonomy. It also has an approval function over State budgets and exercises scrutiny of the work of Government, including Ministers and other institutions of public administration.

Government

The Prime Minister (known as the President) is appointed by the King following a general election, and in turn recommends appointments to the Council of Ministers (Cabinet). Since the 1993 elections, government has been organized around 16 Departments. While these Departments would cover matters which are in practical terms devolved, such as education and agriculture, the "reserved" matters which remain the sole responsibility of central government include:
  • international relations
  • defence
  • justice
  • customs and excise
  • inland revenue
  • finance, including banking, monetary policy and insurance
  • telecommunications
  • transport.

The autonomous regions

The Constitution provides for an entitlement by the autonomous regions to certain powers. These include:
  • the internal organisation of regional government
  • planning
  • housing
  • agriculture
  • forestry
  • environmental protection
  • economic development
  • culture
  • social assistance.
Not all autonomous regions have sought the complete range of powers and in these circumstances continue to share them with the state. Five: Catalonia, Galicia, Valencia, Andalucia and the Canary Islands, have opted for "fast track" devolution and have sought full devolution of power within the limits of the constitution. Other matters not expressly vested in the State may also be devolved to the Autonomous Regions.

Government of the autonomous regions

Each of the 17 Autonomous Regions has a Legislative Assembly, elected every 4 years under proportional representation. The Assembly elects a President, who is appointed by the King. The President appoints a governing Council (usually not more than 10 people). Each region also has a representative of the State – the Delegate General – appointed to it who exercises responsibility for those state activities which are discharged at regional level.

Municipalities

There are 8097 municipalities in Spain whose populations range in size from over 500,000 (6) to less than 1,000 (4,886). Municipalities can be responsible for:
  • public safety
  • traffic control
  • civil defence and fire prevention
  • urban planning and roads
  • environment
  • markets
  • public hygiene
  • social care
  • public utilities
  • recreational amenities
  • cemeteries.
Given the small size of many of the municipalities, however, it is not feasible for all to carry out the full range of functions. In Catalonia, for example, a "sliding scale" of responsibilities is exercised with municipalities being required to provide specific services according to their size. Co-operation between municipalities in the delivery of services is also a feature of the system.

Government

Each municipality has a Council elected under proportional representation. The Mayor is elected by the councillors and he or she will in turn appoint an Executive Committee.

Provinces

There are 50 Provinces in Spain, largely of historical origin. Their function in the government of Spain has become less clear: in terms of political or administrative influence, they have been overshadowed by the growing power of the Autonomous Regions. Their role has increasingly evolved into one of co-operation and co-ordination between the state and the autonomous regions which come within its territorial area.

Government

Each Province has a Provincial Council ranging from 25 – 51 deputies who elect a President. The President appoints the Provincial Government Council.
In the Provinces, a Civil Governor appointed by the King carries out similar duties to that of the Delegate General in the regions. These are largely cermonial figures and it is possible that they will be phased out in future and replaced by professional administrative appointees.

Catalonia

Catalonia has a population of just over 6m people, of which 3m live in the greater Barcelona area and 1.5m in the city itself. Catalonia has 946 municipalities most with less than 5000 inhabitants, organized into 41 counties. The city of Barcelona is itself a single municipality.
Catalonia, together with the Basque Country, is the region of Spain which has gone furthest to assert its autonomy from central government under a Statutory of Autonomy which was agreed in 1979. That autonomy is reinforced by a complementary emphasis on its cultural and linguistic distinctiveness.
The Statutte of Autonomy gives the "Generalitat" executive legislative and administrative jurisdiction over a wide range of issues: urban planning, local government, transport, public works, commerce, tourism, health and social care, sports and culture. The Generalitat is also active in a developmental role including education, energy and environmental protection.
In 2002, the general budget of the Generalitat was €18.8m, drawn from:
       - local taxes
       - state taxes
       - state grants
       - income from assets
       - credit operations.
The largest element of this (34.4%) was directed to Health and Social Security with 18.2% spent on education.

Government

The government of the Generalitat of Catalonia is made up of:
The Parliament

This has 135 members and has legislative, approval and scrutiny powers.

The President

The President is elected by the members of the Parliament.

The Executive Council is the Cabinet and is composed of the political heads of the Departments of government. The number of Departments is usually 12 but can vary from parliament to parliament.

The ajuntament de Barcelona

The City of Barcelona is governed by a city plenum of 41 councillors which has approval powers over the budget, accounts, bylaws and urban planning. Its business is conducted through 10 permanent commissions each dealing with specific areas of the Council’s responsibility eg Social Welfare, Education and Culture, Infrastructures and Urban Planning, etc. The membhership of these commissions is drawn from all political parties represented on the councils, and the President of each Commission is chosen by the Plenum.
The Plenum aso elects the Mayor who appoints a cabinet, or Government Commission of 24 members, which meets monthly to consider issues on the City Plenum and reports on them.
The City is further divided into 10 districts, each with a Council of 15 members, presided over by a councilor appointed by the Mayor.
For administrative purposes, the responsibilities of the City Council are carried out through 5 Departments:
  • general services
  • services to citizens
  • maintenance and urban services
  • public thoroughfares
  • urban planning.
In turn, functions are discharged by either:
  • municipal agencies (autonomous bodies dependent on the City of Barcelona)
  • municipal companies (public corporations which the Council wholly owns or has a share).

Key issues

Many of the initiatives taken at national, regional and municipal level contribute fully to
  • improving services
  • enhancing democracy
  • involving communities
  • better governance.
There is a particular emphasis on the development of e-government and providing communities with access to information about services and the operation of the administrative bodies.

National level

Given the high degree of decentralization of power and the autonomy of the regions in most major areas of public service, the role of central government in leading an improved agenda appears to have focused mainly on a number of areas:-

       (i) the adoption of European-wide quality initiatives and standards
       (ii) better co-ordination of Government Departments
       (iii) the promotion of Citizen’s Charters for various services
       (iv) the promotion of e-government
       (v) the setting of national standards which are constitutionally enforceable.
Examples of current initiatives are:
       (i) the business one-stop shop project designed by the Ministry of Public
Administration in collaboration with other departments. This allows
citizens interested in starting up small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to
find all the information they need at one point.
       (ii) the development of cross-cutting projects for all Ministries to ensure there are common standards between departments. For example, in IT, each department can buy its own software but the State has to approve it and one department is responsible for ensuring that all systems are compatible.
       (iii) there is a major project to simplify public administration and allow citizens to access services on-line. One result of this scheme has been the opportunity for citizens to fill in tax returns electronically. Of the 1m tax returns completed last year, one-fifth were done electronically, this has resulted in real savings for the State.
       (iv) in addition, websites developed by the State and regions provide information on tourism, allow people to make an appointment with a doctor and give feedback on services.
       (v) the establishment of national standards in public service and the moderation of the impact of devolution of specific services eg health across richer and poorer autonomous communities.
       (vi) a promotion of charters for specific services and quality award schemes.

Catalonia

Improving services

The Generalitat has been active in public service reform and service improvement since the mid-1980s and has placed considerable emphasis on the development of quality models and standards. Its flagship project is CAT21 which was initiated in 2000. CAT21 is a reform process which seeks to re-orientate government towards
  • a better strategic focus
  • better co-ordination and participation
  • greater transparency for the citizen.
It seeks to transcend the traditional sectoral and departmental models of administration to achieve a more flexible and co-ordinated system in which all government action is organized around strategically oriented core values.
To facilitate the goals of CAT 21, Interdepartmental Working Groups have been established to undertake cross-cutting projects. A CAT21 Working Team has been set up within each Department both to promulgate the of CAT 21 vision and to identify:
  • appropriate departmental activities
  • departmental objectives
  • actions and indicators.

AOC – open administration of Catalonia

The aim of AOC is to improve relations between public administration and citizens, businesses and professions, using Information and Communication Technologies. It seeks to
  • make communication between the citizen and the administration simpler
  • make available more channels of communication
  • improve access
  • create greater integration of information at single points.
The project is organized around a number of key life events, including health services, access to education and training, employment, enterprise, payment of taxes and vehicle licensing.
There are also 3 specialised web-sites for education, traffic information, weather and tourism.

Involving communities

There have been significant advances in e-government as a tool for transparency between government at all levels and the citizen, with the aim of making the citizen better informed, and making public services more responsive.

Enhancing democracy

Within the Spanish constitution the process of devolution of power to the autonomous regions is a continuing process, rather than a single event. In Catalonia the democratic structures around which government in Catalonia is built is unlikely to change. In particular the large number of very small municipalities are regarded as important for the maintenance of a high degree of democracy and it appears unlikely that any rationalization will be undertaken. Projects such as AOC (above) also aim to make governmental processes much more accessible and open to the citizen.

Better governance

There is a strong sense that the Generalitat of Catalonia is more than the government of a region of Spain: it is a government for the Catalan people. And effective and efficient public services are considered an essential element in the success of the Generalitat. As indicated above, there is unlikely to be any major reform of governmental arrangements or structures, but as with AOC and CAT21, considerable effort is being put into linking the citizen and the administration and to making administrative and governmental processes significantly more transparent.