Council of Ministers (Spain)
Consejo de Ministros | |
Moncloa Palace | |
Council of Ministers overview | |
---|---|
Formed | November 19, 1823 |
Jurisdiction | Government of Spain |
The Council of Ministers (Spanish: Consejo de Ministros) is the main collective decision-making body of the Government of Spain, and it is exclusively composed of the Prime Minister, the deputy prime ministers and the ministers (22 as of 2023). Junior or deputy ministers such as the Secretaries of State are not members of the Council (although according to the Constitution they could be, if the Government Act included them, a constitutional provision that until today has not been used). The Monarch may also chair the Council when needed on the invitation of the Prime Minister.
The ministers are proposed by the Prime Minister and formally appointed by the King. There is no requirement for the Prime Minister nor the ministers to be MPs. The ministers are the heads of a ministerial department and receive the title of "Minister". In addition to the ministers that are the head of a department, there may be ministers without portfolio, who are entrusted responsibility for certain government functions.
The Council is the main collective decision-making body of the government and the only one constitutionally recognized but ministers can also meet through other government bodies such as the Government Delegated Committees. The Delegated Committees are created by the Council and composed by ministers and secretaries of state which deal with minor issues that may affect more than one ministry.
The Secretary of the Council of Ministers is the
History
Origins, 15th-18th century
From the beginnings of the modern state and the centralization of power in the monarchs, the government was exercised by them through people of trust. The monarchs trusted them certain subjects and with which they made daily dispatches to deal with these matters. Over time, these trusted people who, on numerous occasions, received the title of ministers, were in conflict with the powers of other ministers and, to resolve these, they made collective meetings between various ministers and the monarchs.
With
Philip II ruled until 1567 with a single secretary and with two since that date, although he balanced the power between his two Secretaries of State and the other advisors and private secretaries. With the subsequent monarchs —Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II— the figure of the favourite (Spanish: Valido) appeared, a kind of prime minister. It is at this time when the position of secretary of the Dispatch appears.[3]
With Philip V and, by French influence, the Council of Dispatch was created with a few members. This members had the task of advise the monarch in his task of government and that displaced the Council of State in this task. During his reign many of the Secretaries of State and of the Dispatch appeared.
The Supreme State Board
The institution of the Council of Ministers as a collective body of government does not appear with such a name until its creation by
This Board was not properly a Council of Ministers because, as we have said, not only ministers but other authorities, such as the Councilors of State, could attend and, in addition, this body was limited by the Reserved Instruction, an articulated text that included the matters that could be discussed by the Board. The Board, created in 1787, did not have a long journey or developed the work for which Floridablanca promoted its creation and, only a few months later, the first criticisms appeared accusing the Count of Floridablanca of wanting to assume all the ministries powers through this body, to appoint the high officials of the Kingdom and thus gather in his person all the power.
The Royal Decree of 8 July 1787, which created the Board, it said:[4]
Since the Divine Providence led me to the Throne of this great Monarchy I have wished to promote, with all my strength, its prosperity. The Almighty wanted to favor my good intentions by arranging that, with the various events and vicissitudes of my reign, my experiences be increased, and my knowledge rectified: and this is the inheritance that it seemed to me to leave to my beloved vassals, reduced to perpetuate in them and in their government and constitution the progressive succession of the lights and maxims that I have acquired.
To this end I have resolved that, in addition to the Council of State, which will be convened when I, or my successors have it convenient, there is a Supreme Board, also of the State, similar to the one currently held by my verbal orders, composed of all the Secretaries of State and of the Universal Office: to which, in cases of gravity that occur, the other Ministers of the same Council of State appointed by me, or those of other Councils, or also the Generals, will concur; and educated and jealous people who believe they are useful or necessary.
This Board must be ordinary and perpetual, and must be convened once at least every week, being held in the [headquarters of the] First Secretary of State (the Prime Minister), even if this or another of the ministers does not attend, without any label or formalities of precedence between the concurrent, which only serve to prevent or delay my service and the good of the crown. (...)
— Royal Decree of 8 July 1787, Charles III
With the fall of Floridablanca in 1792 and the arrival to the power of
Briefly, with the return of
The Council of Ministers
After the experience during the
The first meeting of the Council was on 22 November and to it were summoned the Minister of Justice, the Minister of War and the Minister of the Treasury and Navy.
This Council was directly and permanently submitted to the monarch, as it appears in the historical texts that show that between 28 December 1825 and 19 September 1826 it was suspended by direct orders of Ferdinand VII, while it was strengthened the
To understand the motives that the monarch had to create the Council, it is necessary to resort to the royal decree of December 1823 that establishes the "bases on which the new Council of Ministers must walk," and these are:[10][11][12]
1st. Raise a good police throughout the Kingdom.
2nd. Dissolution of the Army and formation of a new one.
3rd. Nothing that has a relationship with Chambers or any kind of representation.
4th. To clean up all the Secretaries of Dispatch, Justice and other offices of both the Court and the rest of the Kingdom of all those who have been addicted to the Constitutional System, protecting the Realists decisively.
5th. Work ceaselessly to destroy the secret societies and all kinds of sects.
6th. Not recognize the constitutional loans.— Royal decree of December 1823, Ferdinand VII
The purpose, then, was to dismantle any trace of the constitutional period of the
At the time of its creation, the Council of Ministers was composed of the five ministers —six when the Interior Minister was added— in addition to a secretary who, in the absence of this, it assumed the functions of secretary of the Council the Minister of Grace and Justice.
They used to meet once a week; later, it was extended to twice —Tuesdays and Saturdays— although depending on the circumstances, the hours could vary, as happened at the time of the uprising of Jorge Bessières that met daily or when the monarch pleased. Extraordinary meetings and the continual excuses of the ministers not to attend were also common, although the general norm was habitual attendance, as was not the case in other institutions of the monarchy. Likewise, various authorities that were called to issue reports or defend the files that were being processed could go to the Council, generally in the area of the Treasury and international relations. They were described in the minutes as "assistants".
The place designed for its meetings and the most usual in its beginnings was the headquarters of the First Secretary of State, although with time it was the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Navy that assumed that role. It was also common that the Council met where the monarch was, as in the Royal Palaces of Aranjuez, San Lorenzo or La Granja.[13]
After the death of
Although the Royal Statute affirmed that the monarch freely appoints and separates the ministers, the parliamentary practice obliged the sovereign to elect the ministers among the members of the Cortes Generales who had the confidence of these ministers, in clear imitation of the European systems in which the Government should have the confidence of the Crown and Parliament. In the same way, the prerogatives that were granted to the monarch were actually exercised by his ministers.
In the first Council's meetings of Martinez de la Rosa and Mendizábal the Queen Regent did not usually attend —although she was always informed of everything— and they met once or twice a week and with the ordinary assistance of the ministers —although during the premiership of Mendizábal many times the Councils were reduced to two members by the notable absences— in addition to the Secretary of the Council of Ministers, with Martinez de la Rosa to the Council also attended the members of the Government, senior administrative positions and military chiefs, mainly because of the War.[14]
With the regency of General Espartero the political situation did not improve. The difficulties to form stable governments were insurmountable and the personality of Espartero —who wanted to exercise power himself— did not help much, in fact, all the ministers of prime minister Joaquín María López resigned at the same time because they had demanded that Espartero respected the principle of that the Monarch reign but does not rule and they said «that such healthy principles can not be realized, [ministers] believe in the obligation to resign their positions in the hands of Your Highness confident that their resignation will be admitted, which is based on the essential conditions of the representative government (...)».[15] Espartero quickly appointed Álvaro Gómez Becerra as Prime Minister, something that did not please the Congress that ratified his support for the previous government.
After this situation began the uprisings against General Espartero and, in Barcelona,
With
In the winter of 1851,
With the fall of the Bravo Murillo government, political instability and ephemeral governments returned, lasting until the fall of the First Republic in 1874.
The Restoration
After the dethronement of
During this period the
The new Constitution grants the Monarch the executive power delegating into his ministers and, although it is not mentioned explicitly in the constitution, the figure of the President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) acquires greater relevance and power, placing himself in the center as the true guiding center of the country's administrative action. It is at this time when a true civil government is established, with small lapses of prime ministers of a military nature.
It is also not a period free of controversy, since a turnismo system like this was only possible with the help of the Ministry of the Interior which is traditionally in charge of supervising the electoral processes and which, at that time, was the one in charge to put in agreement to the political forces to agree the result of the elections. Nevertheless, this system gave the necessary stability to the country between 1875 and 1903. However, this system soon entered into a crisis with the internal fights between parties, the incipient dissolution of these and the appearance of new ones, such as the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in 1879.[19]
With the ascension to the throne of the young
The crisis of the system was evident, and in the next 21 years until the coup d'état of Primo de Rivera there were 33 governments, at an average of 8 months per government.
Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera
On 13 September 1923, the
In December 1925, the Military Directory disappeared and a Civil Directory was constituted, recovering the positions of President of the Council of Ministers and
The most relevant of this period of civil government was the draft Constitution of 1929, which granted the monarch the ability to assist the Council of Ministers whenever he wished and chair over it should he attend; it had to approve the appointments and substitutions of the dismissals of the ministers of the Crown, although it was granted to the king the capacity to appoint ministers without portfolio.
This project did not prosper and Primo de Rivera ended up resigning and being replaced by another military, Lieutenant General Berenguer Fusté as Prime Minister, appointed as temporary until new elections were held to return the constitutional course to the country, but the local elections of 1931 eventually end up with the monarchy and the Second Republic was established.
Second Republic
With the arrival of the second republic and the approval of the Constitution of 1931, a parallel is established between the Government and the Council of Ministers, when it says in its article 86 that "the President of the Council of Ministers and the Ministers constitute the Government" and the figure of the President emphasizes that «he directs and represents the general policy of the Government» while the ministers «are responsible for the top direction and management of the public services assigned to the different ministerial departments». With this Constitution it can be affirmed that the Prime Minister ceases to be primus inter pares. As in the monarchical era, it was the head of the State who freely appointed the president of the Council, but now it was the President of the Council of Ministers who appointed his ministers, with the exception of Article 88 that empowered the President of the Republic to appoint ministers without portfolio, something that also included the draft Constitution of 1929.
The Constitution at no time established the mechanism of parliamentary confidence, since it was the President of the Republic who appointed the Prime Minister freely, although they did respond jointly to their actions before the Congress and, if the parliament expressly denied them confidence, the head of the State was forced to cease them. Likewise, Congress could censure the government or individually the ministers forcing them to resign if approved by an absolute majority.
Therefore, the Council of Ministers in the Republican era continued to maintain the double confidence of the monarchical tradition, and must have the confidence of the Cortes and the President of the Republic.
The Council of Ministers had the
Dictatorship of Francisco Franco
On 18 July 1936 a part of the Republican army took up arms against the constitutional regime. On 24 July, the National Defense Board was created in Burgos, which assumed «all the Powers of the State and legitimately represents the country before foreign powers.» This body was organized in a collective way and took decisions jointly by Decree.[24] It will not be until August of that year that Francisco Franco becomes part of the board.[25]
Franco managed in September 1936 to assume all the power of the State, by means of a Decree of the Board of 29 September 1936 that said:
Article one - In compliance with the agreement adopted by the National Defense Board, the Chief of the Government of the Spanish State is appointed to the Most Excellent General of Division Mr. Francisco Franco Bahamonde, who will assume all the powers of the new State.
Article Two.- It is also named Generalissimo of the national forces of land, sea and air, and is conferred the position of General Head of Operations Armies.
Article third.- This proclamation will be solemnly covered, before adequate representation of all the national elements that make up this liberating movement, and from it the opportune communication will be made to the foreign Governments.
Fourth Article - In the short time that elapses until the transfer of powers, the National Defense Board will continue to assume what it currently exercises.
Article Five - Any provisions opposing this Decree are repealed and without effect.— Given in Burgos on 29 September 1936., Miguel Cabanellas
After almost 2 years of war and the Republican side practically defeated, a true government was formed on the rebel side, with Franco at the head, with a Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Francisco Gómez-Jordana Sousa as well as ten other ministers. This government was regulated by the Laws of the Central State Administration of 30 January 1938 and the Law of 8 August 1939 that restructured the Government.
The first of the laws changes the name of the head of the Government to that of the President of the Government —a name that is maintained today— that was linked to the head of the State. This law does not mention the Council of Ministers, although in practice it was in force even though all the dispositions and resolutions of the head of the State had to be submitted to the deliberation of the latter. The second of the laws does mention the Council of Ministers to indicate that the head of the State could dictate resolutions without the prior deliberation of the Council in cases of urgency.
This Council of Ministers did not possess military authority, which was exercised directly by the dictator through the National Defense Board and the High Military Command. During this time, the Council behaves like a technical-administrative organ at the service of the dictator, who does not debate or decide the big political questions.
However, since 1945 the Council of Ministers takes greater relevance especially after the departure of the government of the
This new government transforms the Council of Ministers into a more political than technical-administrative body, due mainly to the good international situation for the regime and the economic boom of the country. From 1957 the so-called technocracy came to power by displacing the Falangists who will develop the Stabilization Plan of 1959 and will carry out more advanced legislation in social matters, such as the 1958 labor agreements.
A before and after is marked after the approval of the Legal System and the State Administration Act (LRJAE) of 1957 that develops the principle of Unity of Administration and places the Council of Ministers as the supreme and central body of the Administration, regulating the Government under the name of Council of Ministers and equipping it with Delegated Committees of the Government to deal with minor issues between ministries. At that time the Secretary of the Council of Ministers was the Minister-Under Secretary of the Presidency.
In 1967 Franco brought to the Cortes the Organic Act of the State (LOE) that separated the figure of the head of State from that of the head of government, who led and on whom the Council of Ministers depended, and defined this Council as «the body that determines the national policy, ensures the application of laws, exercises regulatory power and assists permanently the Head of State in political and administrative affairs », giving full regulatory authority to the government. The peculiarity of this law is that the President of the Government is appointed by the Head of State on the proposal of a three candidates of the Council of the Kingdom (the private council of the dictator).
From this time the Council of Ministers acquires its largest autonomy quotas, mainly due to the poor health of the dictator, and six years after approving the LOE, Franco appoints Carrero Blanco as President of the Government, who appointed his own Cabinet. Carrero Blanco was assassinated soon after and with Arias Navarro as Prime Minister, the more the dictator's health worsened, more power and influence had the Council of Ministers.[26]
In short, throughout the Franco dictatorship, it made use of the Council of Ministers as a legitimizing body and to avoid its own political wear. That is why he submitted to the Council even decisions of which only he was competent, such as pardons.
Current constitution
With the approval of the democratic
The current constitutional system is
The parliamentary system obliges the government to have the confidence of the parliament at all times. If Congress censures the government on its own initiative then a prospective replacement candidate for Prime Minister must be nominated at the same time. If the censure motion carries, the replacement candidate is deemed to have the confidence of the Congress and automatically becomes the new Prime Minister. This constructive vote of no confidence was established by articles 113 and 114 of the Constitution; there have been four attempts, and the first successful vote was on 1 June 2018 when Mariano Rajoy was voted out in favour of Pedro Sánchez.
Regarding the election of the Prime Minister, unlike previous periods, the monarch does not appoint the head of the government. The role of the monarch is to nominate a candidate that the Congress of Deputies must approve or reject. If the candidate is approved, the monarch can appoint him. In the same way, it is the Premier who proposes to the monarch the appointment or cessation of the ministers. Since 1987, it is the Prime Minister by Royal Decree who decides how many ministries the Government has.
This does not mean that the ministers are mere hierarchical subordinates, because the Constitution itself in Article 98.2, when establishing the directive function of the premier, establishes that the president directs the government «notwithstanding the competence and direct responsibility of these [ministers] in their management».
Meetings of the council
The Council of Ministers, as a general rule, meets weekly every Tuesday morning. Its meetings, from which minutes will be drawn up, may be deliberative and/or decision-making. The minutes will include, exclusively, the circumstances related to the time and place of its celebration, the list of attendees, the resolutions adopted and the reports presented. Therefore, the deliberations that the different members of the Government maintain, since these by law are of a secret nature, can not be collected.
The meetings of the Council are convened and chaired by the
Location of council meetings
The Council of Ministers meetings are held at the
However, the Council of Ministers can meet in any city in the country. Some examples are the Council's meetings in 1976 and 2018 in Barcelona, the Council's meeting in Palma de Mallorca in 1983 or the Council's meetings in Seville in 1976, 2010 and 2018.
Collaboration and support bodies
According to the Government Act of 1997, there are two bodies with the mission of collaborate or give support to the Council of Ministers. These are the General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries and the Government Secretariat.[29]
General Commission
The General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries is an auxiliary body of the Council of Ministers composed by all the secretaries of state and undersecretaries of the different ministries. The General Commission has as purpose to study the matters that must to be dealt in the Council of Ministers.
The chairman of the Commission is the
Government Secretariat
The Government Secretariat is the support body of the Council of Ministers, the Government Delegated Committees and the General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries.
The Government Secretariat is responsible for assisting the Minister-Secretary of the Council of Ministers; conduct the calls of the members of the bodies it attends; collaborate with the Technical Secretariats of the Government Delegated Committees; guard the records and minutes of meetings; to collaborate in the technical quality of the norms approved by the
This body is part of the
Current council
As of December 2023[update]:[30]
Cabinet and Council
Although in the English-speaking countries the terms Cabinet and Council of Ministers may mean the same, in
See also
- List of cabinets
- Politics of Spain
Notes
- ISBN 9788474915945.
- ISBN 9788474915945.
- ISBN 9788474915945.
- ^ "Royal Decree of King Carlos III creating the Supreme State Board" (PDF) (in Spanish). 1787.
- doi:10.4000/mcv.2809.
- ^ "Royal decree resolving that there is a Supreme State Board, composed of all the Secretaries of State and the universal office, 1815" (PDF). boe.es (in Spanish). 2 November 1815.
- ^ Villarroya, 25-26
- Gaceta de Madridnúm. 114 (20 November 1823), p. 423
- ^ ISBN 8430922644.
- ^ Fontes Migallón, F. The Council of Ministers (in Spanish). p. 339.
- ISBN 9788480080842.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 9788474230840.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 8430922644.
- ISBN 8430922644.
- ^ Boix, Vicente (1845). History of the City and Kingdom of Valencia. Valencia: Imprenta de D. Benito Monfort. p. 522.
- ISBN 8430922644.
- ^ "Narváez, la espada que detuvo el tiempo de España". El Independiente (in European Spanish). 22 April 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
- ISBN 8430922644.
- ISBN 8430922644.
- ISBN 9788495379054.
- ISBN 8430922644.
- ^ "Royal decree structuring the Military Directory and appointing Primo de Rivera as president" (PDF). Official State Gazette. 1923.
- ^ "Royal decree reinstating the Council of Ministers" (PDF). Official State Gazette. 1925.
- ^ "Decree by which a National Defense Board is constituted that assumes the Powers of the State and legitimately represents the Country before the foreign powers" (PDF).
- ^ "Decree no. 25. appointing member of the National Defense Board to General of Division, Chief of the Army of Morocco and Southern Spain, Mr. Francisco Franco Bahamonde" (PDF).
- ISBN 8430922644.
- ^ "Government Act of 1997 - Article 1". www.boe.es. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
- ^ Article 62
- ^ "Government Act - Articles 8 & 9". Official State Gazette. 27 November 1997.
- ^ "España | Sánchez se rodea de su núcleo duro para la nueva legislatura". euronews (in Spanish). 21 November 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
References
- Villarroya, Joaquín Tomás (1986), Breve historia del constitucionalismo español, Madrid: Centro de Estudios Constitucionales, ISBN 84-259-0652-0.