How Spain's Government is organized, runs, and is controlled

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The Government directs domestic and foreign policy, the Administration, and the defense of the State. It is made up of the President, the Vice Presidents if there are any, and the Ministers, and it meets as the Council of Ministers and in Delegated Commissions.
2. The President directs the Government's action, sets its political program and guidelines, and may propose dissolving the Cortes, raise a question of confidence, and propose referendums, among other duties.
3. The Council of Ministers approves bills, the General State Budgets, Royal Decree-Laws, and the states of alarm and emergency, among other powers. Its deliberations are secret.
4. To be a member of the Government you must be Spanish, of legal age, hold voting rights, and not be disqualified by a final court ruling. Government members may not hold other public functions or any professional or business activity.
5. When the Government ends due to elections, loss of confidence, resignation, or the President's death, it stays in office until the new Government is sworn in. Its management is limited to ordinary business, and it cannot dissolve the Chambers, raise a question of confidence, call referendums, or approve the Budgets.
6. The Government is subject to the Constitution and the laws. Its actions are subject to political control by the Cortes Generales and can be challenged before the administrative courts and the Constitutional Court.

Who it affects

• The President, Vice Presidents, and Ministers: The law sets who is a member of the Government, their duties, substitutions, and conflicts of interest rules.
• Secretaries of State (Secretarios de Estado): They are Government support bodies, with their own rules on appointment, removal, and incompatibilities.
• The Cortes Generales (Spanish Parliament): They politically control the Government's actions and receive its bills.
• The public: People can take part in drafting regulations that affect their rights, through a hearing period of at least fifteen business days.

Words worth knowing

Consejo de Ministros (Council of Ministers)

Meeting of all Government members to make collective decisions.

Comisiones Delegadas del Gobierno (Delegated Commissions)

Bodies made up of several Government members that study and settle matters affecting several Ministries.

Potestad reglamentaria (regulatory power)

The power to approve regulations, that is, rules that develop and implement the laws.

Cuestión de confianza (question of confidence)

A request the President of the Government makes to Congress for backing of their policy; if rejected, they must resign.

Gobierno en funciones (caretaker government)

An outgoing Government that keeps handling ordinary business until the new Government takes office.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries