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What it is

Bill would require Foreign Ministry approval and sanctions for regional foreign action

Admitted step 2 of 7 · Unfinished

It is a members’ bill. Introduced by parliamentary groups, the Senate, regional governments or citizens. It was introduced on 17 January 2020. Introduced by: Grupo Parlamentario Ciudadanos.

Official title: Private member's bill to guarantee the coordination, cooperation, and institutional loyalty of the Autonomous Communities in the development of the State's External Action.

Follow this law

Source: Congreso de los Diputados, file 122/000015· updated 11 Nov

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

  1. The bill would amend the 2014 Law on State Foreign Action to strengthen the Government's coordination and control over the foreign action of Autonomous Communities, Autonomous Cities and local entities.
  2. Foreign activities of Autonomous Communities, Autonomous Cities and local entities would require prior authorization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The same would apply to their trips, visits, agreements and opening offices abroad.
  3. It would create the Sectoral Conference on Foreign Action, a body where the State and the regions take part in designing and planning foreign policy.
  4. It would set up a system of offenses and sanctions: violations would be classified as minor, serious or very serious, with fines from €10,000 to €1.5 million, reprimands, removal from office or disqualification from political appointments, and even closure of offices abroad.
  5. Authorization would be denied to actions that involve representing the State abroad, signing international treaties, creating international obligations, or harming Spain's foreign policy or image.
  6. The law would take effect the day after its publication in the Official State Gazette, except for measures with budgetary impact, which would wait until the following fiscal year.

Who it affects

  • Autonomous Communities and Autonomous Cities: They would need prior approval from the Foreign Ministry for their foreign activities, trips, agreements and offices, and could be sanctioned for non-compliance.
  • Local entities: Their foreign activities would also need prior authorization and would have to follow their regions' foreign action plans.
  • Entities linked to public administrations: Dependent public bodies, foundations and consortia would have to report their foreign activities under the authorization regime.
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs: It would gain supervisory, authorization and sanctioning powers over all regional foreign action.
  • Regional and local senior officials: They could be reprimanded, removed from office or disqualified from political appointments if they commit violations.

Words worth knowing

Acción Exterior del Estado (State Foreign Action)
All actions that Spanish public bodies carry out abroad within their areas of responsibility.
Lealtad institucional (institutional loyalty)
The duty of public administrations to act in a coordinated way and not harm one another.
Conferencia Sectorial (Sectoral Conference)
A body where the central Government and the autonomous regions meet to coordinate a shared area.
Artículo 155 de la Constitución (Article 155 of the Constitution)
A mechanism that lets the Spanish Government take control of a region's institutions in extreme cases.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries

Where it stands

How far did it get?

It took 2 of 7 steps. It reached Admitted, and today it is unfinished.

  1. Introduced17 January 2020Someone registers the text in the Congreso.
  2. Admitted23 January 2020The Bureau of the Congreso accepts it and, for a members’ bill, the plenary decides whether to consider it.
  3. Amendmentsnot reachedGroups propose changes.
  4. Committeenot reachedA committee goes through the text in detail.
  5. Plenarynot reachedAll 350 deputies vote.
  6. Senatenot reachedThe Senate can pass it, amend it or veto it.
  7. BOEnot reachedIt is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and comes into force.
See the 6 official steps on a timeline
Dec 2020Dec 2021Dec 202211. 17 January 2020: Presentación22. 23 January 2020: Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales Publicación desde 23/01/2020 hasta 28/01/202033. 23 January 2020: Calificación44. 28 January 2020: Gobierno Contestación desde 28/01/2020 hasta 07/03/202055. 7 March 2020: Pleno Toma en consideración desde 07/03/2020 hasta 30/05/202366. 30 May 2023: Concluido - (Caducado) desde 30/05/2023 hasta 16/06/2023

Was there a plenary vote?

We have no plenary vote linked to this law in the Congreso’s data.

What happens next

What happens now?

The legislature ended before it finished. To go on, someone would have to introduce it again in the new Cortes.

It has not been presented again yet.

Presented before in:

Sources

Where does all this come from?

  • The data comes from the open files of the Congreso, the Senate and the BOE, unaltered.
  • Each deputy’s province is the one of their seat on the day of the vote.
  • We only say “passed” or “rejected” when the majority needed is certain; otherwise we say which side had more votes.

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