Legislation

(Non-official version in English)

Explanatory preamble

The regulations of the Senate in force, a written document of May 3, 1994, takes into consideration the possibility of using languages that, together with Castilian, have an official status in some Autonomous Community, according to the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy, in three assumptions:

Article 11 bis authorizes the President elected to use them in the constitutive session in his/her first intervention.

Article 56 bis 7, section 2, allows their use in the interventions that take place in the Debate on the State of the Autonomies that is developed within the General Commission of Autonomous Communities (Comisión General de las Comunidades Autónomas).

Moreover, the Fourth Additional Provision foresees for citizens and institutions to address the Senate in writing in any of the co-official languages. The present modification faces the need to thoroughly examine the recognition of the linguistic plurality of Spain by means of its development in an institution such as the Senate, which Article 69.1 of the Constitution defines as the House of Territorial Representation (Cámara de representación territorial), enlarging in it the use of the co-official languages.

This new regulatory reform makes the use of co-official languages possible in all the sessions of the General Commission of Autonomous Communities, for it is the body that best interprets the autonomous nature of this institution. In it, the representatives of the Government Councils of the Autonomous Communities and Cities may intervene. It also authorizes the publishing of those initiatives of a non-legislative nature that, in addition to Castilian, are presented in another language in the section of the Senate of the Official Gazette of the Spanish Parliament (Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales).

Section 2 of Article 56 bis 7 is suppressed.

Article Two

An Article 56 bis 9 (new) is added with the following wording:

"It will be possible to carry out the interventions that take place during the sessions of the General Commission of Autonomous Communities in any of the languages that, together with Castilian, have an official status in some Autonomous Community, according to the Constitution and the corresponding Statute of Autonomy. In the Report of Proceedings in Parliament (Diario de Sesiones) they will be reproduced integrally, both in the language in which they have been carried out and in Castilian."

Article Three

A Section 2 (new) is added to Article 191 with the following wording:

"If the author of a motion, interpellation or question presents it in Castilian and, in addition, in a language that is official in some Autonomous Community, according to the Constitution and the corresponding Statute of Autonomy, the initiative will also be published in this language."

Source: Mercator Legislation, Bulletin No.64, IV Quarter 2005

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