The Hay Derecho Foundation denounced the “abuse” by the Government of the figure of the decree-law and the use of legislative proposals from relevant parliamentary groups to deal with “secret” bills, which was used, for example, for the controversial amnesty law.
This is what its second report on situation of the rule of law in Spainreferring to the years 2022 and 2022, which were presented this Friday in Madrid by the directors of Hay Derecho Segismundo Álvarez, Safira Cantos and Elisa de la Nuez, together with Germán Teruel, professor of constitutional law at the University of Murcia and co-director of the research.
The report states that “One of the factors that most strained the political-constitutional framework during this period was the treatment of a Amnesty law ‘trial’, as a condition for the investiture of the Government“.
For Hay Derecho, the parliamentary treatment of this law “revealed in a very explicit way many of the problems related to the diminished role of Parliament and its subordination to the executive branchas well as the reduction of the necessary guarantees, both technical and from the point of view of citizen participation, by resorting to the invoice for urgent processing.
The report highlights that the Government frequently resorts to the presentation of bills “which, in reality, are ‘disguised’ bills“and let us recall that these legislative initiatives make it possible to avoid the procedures of a bill, being a tool designed by the legislator for the legislative initiatives of the opposition parties.
On the other hand, 27% of the regulations approved in 2022 were decree-laws. This figure rose to 32% in 2023, “confirming the abuse that is made of this figure, with the consequence of undermining the legislative function of Parliament and the inevitable deterioration of the parliamentary deliberative process” said the report.
Furthermore, none of the decree laws treated as draft laws in 2022 and 2023 were ultimately approved as law.
Another widespread practice is the “sine die” extension of amendment deadlines, thus freezing the processing of legislative initiatives. A particularly striking example is the permanent “freeze” of the reform of the Official Secrets Law, in force since 1968, despite the fact that the European Commission has recommended that Spain update this law.
Legal uncertainty
For Hay Derecho, “one of the main reasons for legal insecurity is the lack of fixity of the rules and the existence of a a rapidly growing regulatory tangle“.
According to him, the high number of regulatory initiatives approved during the period under review that were not initially planned in the annual regulatory plan is “worrying”. “In 2022, the 200 standards approved without being plannedand in 2023 this figure will even be exceeded,” he says.
Furthermore, “fewer and fewer initiatives are being carried out within the framework of the annual regulatory plan, which demonstrates the lack of regulatory predictability,” he says.
Contradictorily, Spain is the country where the greatest number of infringement procedures are opened due to delays in compliance with Community legislative obligations.
Establishments
The report refers to the “long-awaited” release of the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary, which it appreciates positively.
On the contrary, it confirms that Spain continues to be among the countries of the European Union that have the least judges per capita a. “This prevents progress towards a more agile and more efficient justice system for citizens,” he says.
As of January 1, 2024, the rate in Spain was 11.9 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, according to CGPJ data. The European average is significantly higher: around 22 judges per 100,000 inhabitants.
For Hay Derecho, in 2022 and 2023 The autonomy of the prosecution service “is increasingly compromised”“.
It should be recalled that organisations such as the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the European Commission have recommended separating the mandates of the Attorney General and the government and improving the transparency and autonomy of the public prosecution service.
According to the report, “the management of the current attorney general, Álvaro García Ortiz, has been criticized for its lack of transparency and independence,” while “conflicts and judicial decisions have arisen that call into question the appointments and actions carried out during his term.”
