Reserve Power - Constitutional Monarchies - Spain

Spain

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 does not specifically grant emergency powers to the government, though does state in Article 56 that the monarch "arbitrates and moderates the regular functioning of the institutions", and invests the monarch with the responsibility of overseeing that the forms of the constitution are observed. It is through this constitutional language that wider "reserve powers" are granted to the monarch. It is through this clause and his position as Commander in Chief of the Spanish Armed Forces that King Juan Carlos undermined the attempted 23-F military coup in 1981.

Title II, Articles 56
The King is Head of State, the symbol of its unity and permanence. He arbitrates and moderates the regular functioning of the institutions, assumes the highest representation of the Spanish State in international relations, especially with the nations of its historical community, and exercises the functions expressly conferred on him by the Constitution and the laws.

Title II, Articles 56
El Rey es el Jefe del Estado, símbolo de su unidad y permanencia, arbitra y modera el funcionamiento regular de las instituciones, asume la más alta representación del Estado español en las relaciones internacionales, especialmente con las naciones de su comunidad histórica, y ejerce las funciones que le atribuyen expresamente la Constitución y las leyes.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978, Title II The Crown, Article 62, delineates the powers of the king, while Title IV Government and Administration, Article 99, defines the king's role in government. Title VI Judicial Power, Article 117, Articles 122 through 124, outlines the king's role in the country's independent judiciary. However, by constitutional convention established by Juan Carlos I, the king exercises his prerogatives having solicited government advice while maintaining a politically non-partisan and independent monarchy. Receiving government advice does not necessarily bind the monarch into executing the advice, except where prescribed by the constitution.

It is incumbent upon the King:

• a. To Sanction and promulgate the laws
• b. To summon and dissolve the Cortes Generales and to call for elections under the terms provided for in the Constitution.
• c. To Call for a referendum in the cases provided for in the Constitution.
• e. To appoint and dismiss members of the Government on the President of the Government's proposal.
• f. To issue the decrees approved in the Council of Ministers, to confer civil and military honours and distinctions in conformity with the law.
• g. To be informed of the affairs of State and, for this purpose, to preside over the meetings of the Council of Ministers whenever, he sees fit, at the President of the Government's request.
• h. To exercise supreme command of the Armed Forces
• i. To exercise the right of clemency in accordance with the law, which may not authorize general pardons.
• j. To exercise the High Patronage of the Royal Academies.

Once a General Election has been announced by the king, political parties nominate their candidates to stand for the presidency of the government.

Following the General Election of the Cortes Generales (Cortes), and other circumstances provided for in the constitution, the king meets with and interviews the political party leaders represented in the Congress of Deputies, and then consults with the Speaker of the Congress of Deputies (officially, Presidente de Congreso de los Diputados de España, who, in this instance, represents the whole of the Cortes Generales) before nominating his candidate for the presidency, according to Section 99 of Title IV. Often minor parties form part of a larger major party, and through that membership it can be said that the king fulfills his constitutional mandate of constulting with party represenitives with Congressional representation.

Title IV Government and Administration Section 99(1) & (2)

• (1) After each renewal of the Congress and the other cases provided for under the Constitution, the King shall, after consultation with the representatives appointed by the political groups with parliamentary representation, and through the Speaker of the Congress, nominate for the Presidency of the Government.
• (2) The candidate nominated in accordance with the provisions of the foregoing subsection shall submit to the Congress the political program of the Government he or she intends to form and shall seek the confidence of the House.

Artículo 99.

• 1. Después de cada renovación del Congreso de los Diputados, y en los demás supuestos constitucionales en que así proceda, el Rey, previa consulta con los representantes designados por los grupos políticos con representación parlamentaria, y a través del Presidente del Congreso, propondrá un candidato a la Presidencia del Gobierno.
• 2. El candidato propuesto conforme a lo previsto en el apartado anterior expondrá ante el Congreso de los Diputados el programa político del Gobierno que pretenda formar y solicitará la confianza de la Cámara.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 explicitly says the king is not subject to any responsibility but his acts to be valid must be endorsed by the Government and will not be valid without such an endorsement. The only exception is that the king is free to appoint and remove the members of his private and military advisors (Casa Real).

Title IV of the Constitution invests the sanction (Royal Assent) and promulgation (publication) of the laws with the king, while Title III The Cortes Generals, Chapter 2 Drafting of Bills outlines the method bills are passed. According to Article 91, within fifteen days that a bill has been passed by the Cortes Generales, the king shall give his assent and publish the new law. Article 92 invests the king with the right to call for referendum on the advice of the president and the previous authorization of Congress.

No provision within the constitution invests the king with the ability to veto legislation directly, however no provision prohibits the king from withholding royal assent, effectively a veto. When the media asked King Juan Carlos if he would endorse the bill legalizing gay marriages, he answered "Soy el Rey de España y no el de Bélgica" ("I am the King of Spain, not of Belgium") – a reference to King Baudouin I of Belgium who had refused to sign the Belgian law legalising abortion. The King gave his Royal Assent to Law 13/2005 on 1 July 2005; the law was gazetted in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 2 July, and came into effect on 3 July 2005.