This article is written in conjunction with the IE Law Society.By Lucía Sobrado Louzao
Have you ever wondered who is in charge of the legislative power in Spain? How do laws get approved? Can the population propose a law? Do politicians from different parties get along? These questions, and more, were answered on October 7th when the Law Society went on a visit to both legislative chambers, known in Spain as the Cortes Generales: the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate (the upper house).
Why do we Need the Senate?
The visit began in the Senate, where Fran Díaz – a senator from the PSOE – welcomed us. The Senate comprises 266 senators who group themselves into parliamentary groups. They receive proposed laws that come directly from the Congress of Deputies and examine them in detail, having the right to propose amendments or veto them. However, the Congress is entitled to make the final decision on whether the amended law passes or not if they have ⅔ supermajority. As some of you may be thinking, it is hard to get the Congress to agree to pass a law, so the Senate rarely vetoes a law.We started our visit in the Antiguo Salón de Sesiones, where the senators used to meet in the old times for the plenum (now there is a new room with more technological accommodations). The distribution of the senators follows the political tradition of right and left and the governing block will have their seats in blue and the opposition in red. What surprised most of us were all the architectural details and the impressive artistic side of the building. The library, built in 1834, is a perfect example of such. Soroya’s famous paintings do not go unnoticed, some of these can be found in the room of the “Lost Steps.” Can you guess why it’s called that? (Hint: great minds like Darwin, Einstein, Kant, and Nietzche used this method)
Why is the Congress so Important?
After an intense visit, we were very excited to dive into the second house, the Congress of Deputies. We were welcomed by Ada Santana Aguilera from PSOE, the youngest deputy of the current legislature at 25 years old! Following the tradition of the deputies, we entered the Congress through the left door since Ada is from the left-wing party. The Congress comprises 350 members, elected by their constituency for four years (through universal suffrage), and represents different parliamentary groups. The Congress of Deputies is the first to examine governmental and non-governmental bills and has the right to approve a law that can be proposed by the Government, the Assemblies of Self-Governing communities, or by a proposal with less than 500,000 signatures. So yes, citizens can propose laws!
Don’t Take Democracy for Granted…
The main chamber of the Congress is the Hemiciclo, where the plenums take place. This beautiful room is a symbol of Spanish democracy and also the challenges that it has faced. Once you enter the Hemiciclo, it is impossible to not look at the bullet holes. Yes, you read correctly… When Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo was being sworn in as the President of Spain in 1981, colonel Tejero interrupted the ceremony and shot 40 bullets. Luckily, the coup d’etat to revert Spain into a Francoist regime was unsuccessful. The bullet holes are still visible today and it serves all of us as a reminder to not take our democracy for granted.
What is the Current Situation?
As you may have heard from the news, Spain is going through a very particular time in its democracy. The current government has 141 deputies in the Congress since it did not have a majority in the elections and it is governing with minority parties (with their own interests), while the opposition has 171. On top of that, it is one of the first times in which the Senate is composed of a majority of the opposition party. All this means that reaching agreements and passing laws has been so far incredibly difficult, creating multiple political confrontations.
Are Politicians “Enemies to Lovers”?
Even though these issues are addressed in the media as very violent and polarized among the politicians, Ada clarified that what we see on television is not real life. Senators and deputies from different parties work hand in hand in commissions and political views are not an obstacle to creating lifetime friendships, as in any other job.
On a personal note, I think politician’s behavior has a big impact on how interpersonal relationships work in our daily lives. The more confrontation society sees in the media, the more polarized it becomes. Politicians should cooperate and try to reach an agreement that takes into account people’s voices through the different political parties that are freely voted by the population. The legislative power is where the magic happens (or the disaster, depending on who and where you ask), but we can all agree that it is the path we have to make steps toward a more peaceful and egalitarian world.
All images courtesy of Lucía Sobrado Louzao
