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The Congress and Senate¿s Inaugural Sessions for the XIII, XIV and XV terms were controversial due to the way some parliamentarians took the oath to uphold the Constitution, by adding to the usual format very diverse statements. The Constitutional Court has a well-established doctrine on the matter, which is analysed in this paper. However, very recently, it has occurred that a group of representatives appealed to the Court after considering that the acceptance of specific ways of taking the oath by the Presidency violated his ius in officium. The paper analyses the ruling of the Court (65/2023) from a critical point of view, and it concludes that it would be desirable to ensure flexibility or remove the requirement to take the oath in order to achieve the status of representative.

The gradual implementation of new information technologies and its almost consolidation with the promulgation of the LPAC in administrative relations, brought with it important innovations in the field of electronic Administration and, in particular, in the electronic administrative procedure. From the so-called ¿Paper Administration¿ we have moved on to the ¿Digital Administration¿. One of the consequences was the implementation of the general system of electronic relations between legal entities and the Administration, which from the outset was not exempt from debate. After more than five years, its effective implementation brings to the fore issues of great importance, in light of the very casuistry that takes place in its application. In this context, the work addresses a key issue within the procedure for the sake of its effectiveness, such as the validity of the notifications made to legal persons, but singled out in a specific fact: when they, instead of taking place electronically, in accordance with the general rule, they are carried out on paper, as well as their legal consequences and the very recent judicial pronouncements on the subject.

As a result of the publication of the Judgements of the SpanishConstitutional Court no. 148/2021 and no. 2021, the state of alarm has beenreconfigured in the Spanish legal system. The established doctrine opens a newscenario regarding the application and effects of this exceptional state, as wellas its connection with the Spanish ordinary crisis regulations. The purpose ofthis paper is to analyze the utility of this exceptional state in the light of suchdecisions. The paper addresses the referred matter focusing on the historicalevolution of the legal crisis instruments in Spain, on the original configurationof the state of alarm, and, of course, on the new position of this institution for itsfuture use.

In this paper we want to address the need to take on board the advantages of artificial intelligence in the administrative procedure, while adopting the necessary precautions for the protection of the rights of the persons involved in the procedure and the public interest. Specifically, we start with some brief preliminary considerations on the subject of AI, and after a reference to the current legal regime, we will look at the administrative procedure: the need to articulate the necessary guarantees, in particular, human supervision, in order to minimize the risks that the use of algorithms and AI may entail, and the possibility of using them in the administrative procedure. The ultimate control of the respect of these safeguards will be a matter for the courts.

Sports federations exercise delegated public functions and are governed by rules that must be ratified by the supervising administration: CSD or Autonomous Communities. This paper analyses some problematic issues, such as the nature of these rules. This work is drafted in line with the judgement 626/2024, issued the 15 April by the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court, which deals with these questions in depth and establishes a relevant and peculiar doctrine, not only with regard to sports law, but also to general administrative law, in relation to the nature of the rules, administrative procedures or administrative silence.

The proposal to declassify urban development sectors is a thorny issue when land becomes undevelopable, and the possibility of the urban development administration being liable for damages arises. This paper presents the experience of the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council of including the declassification of twenty-five sectors in the initial approval agreement of the revision of its General Urban Development Plan, a reasoned decision founded in law, based on the detailed and individualised reports on each of the sectors, and an external legal opinion of contrast.

One of criticisms usually made against the referendum as a way for citizens to take part in public decision-making processes refers to its deliberative disadvantages. The referendum would be simply an instrument to gather opinions, with no interest in reflection or dialogue processes. This paper thoroughly analyses the key elements to achieve a reasonable level of deliberation in the previous campaign, such as the clarity of the question, the information provided to the voter or the distribution of public resources among the contestants. Considering national and international experiences, the author supports the idea according to which an appropriate regulation of these key elements would allow us to overcome many of the shortcomings faced by the institution. Ultimately, this paper shows the futility of general criticisms against the referendum while considers that it would be more useful to pay attention to the design of the institution made in each system.

The Council of Ministers has approved Royal Decree-Law 6/2023, of December 19, approving urgent measures for the implementation of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan in the areas of public service of justice, civil service, local regime and patronage. Among the matters addressed, many of them were already part of the Bill on the Civil Service Law of the State Administration, which was eventually not passed because of the Spanish elections of July 2023. Thus, in the present paper we examine the reform of the civil service brought about this royal decree-law. In particular, the royal decree-law renews the planning, organization and strategic management of human resources and reinforces transparency, streamlines selection processes and regulates and regulates the performance assessment of public employees, their professionalcareer and professional public management. It also updates the ranges of civil servant levels and introduces procedural changes aimed at promoting the use of electronic media and hastening the procedures involved in the administrative litigation process in civil service matters, as well as seeking the right to defense of public employees.

This paper examines the respect for fundamental rights withinthe scope of the Schengen Borders Code (SBC). Firstly, it does so in the lightof the current status quo, jurisprudential and normative. It then surveys theimpact of COVID-19 and of the unprecedented measures, with no clear legalbasis, that had to be improvised against the pandemic and which had a majorimpact on the SBC (closure of external borders, reintroduction of internal bordercontrols and changing prohibitions on ¿intra-Schengen¿ movements) as wellas on fundamental rights. Finally, and also from the perspective of respect forfundamental rights, the impact of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum on theCFS is addressed, through the proposal for amendment of the CFS presented bythe Commission, currently under consideration.

The strategic perspective of public procurement requires a paradigm shift that puts procurement at the service of other public policy objectives. This new vision is not a recent development, but has been taking shape within the framework of a European Union that is striving to combine the aspirations of the common market with the objectives of a social and sustainable Europe. Thus, step by step, environmental and social clauses have made their way into public contracts; firstly, sporadically and promptly; secondly, through a systematic effort to analyse how they fit into the different phases of the tendering procedure; and finally, through a clear proposal in favour of strategic public procurement. In this paper we approach, from a historical perspective and within the scope of the Union, the construction and characteristics of strategic public procurement.

This paper is an attempt to systematize the use of linguistic clauses on Spanish public procurement experience. Through these clauses, contracting authorities of autonomous governments with traditional minority official languages ensure, on the one hand, the realisation of the citizens rights to use minority languages, even when public services are outsourced to the market. On the other hand, these terms also deal with policies of promoting the use and visibility of the native languages concerned in the Autonomous communities. The paper stands for the use of this kind of clauses within the strategic public procurement framework, reviews its legal basis, and discusses about different technical possibilities with respect to the Supreme Court case law and the new Public Sector Contracts Act from 2017.

This paper deals about the Administrative Courts of Contractual Review Procedures, bodies not judicial responsible for review procedures. Its creation was carried out in compliance with the Community Directives on Review Procedures and has been installed at the state, regional and local level since 2010. The new Act on Public Contracts of 2017 has significantly expanded its competences and introduced some modifications that affect the special review of which they know exclusively. The paper focuses on analyzing what are the powers of these Administrative Courts, and does a comparison with the powers of a judicial body. And it concludes that these Administrative Courts are a prior quasijudicial route rather than an administrative appeal.

The paper analyzes the importance of socially responsible public procurement from the practical perspective of the validity of the contracts in which they are incorporated. In particular, the aim is to analyze the impact that the inclusion of social clauses or criteria shall have on these contracts and there are provided practical guidelines for their inclusion depending on the stage of the contract at which they are introduced. In particular, the limitations imposed on these clauses by the administrative tribunals for contractual remedies and the uncertainty that has arisen, as well as proposed solutions, are examined.

The Spanish Constitutional Court in 44/2023 judgment of May 9th, 2023 conducted a constitutionality review of the restrictions on conscientious objection to abortion as established in article 19.2 of Organic Law 2/2010 on sexual and reproductive health and voluntary termination of pregnancy. This paper carries out an analytical and critical examination of the ruling by using principle of proportionality. The author differs from the Constitutional Court¿s decision as far as the legal category assigned to conscientious objection for violating articles 1.1, 14, 16.1 and 16.3 of the Constitution. However, he shares the Constitutional Court¿s reasoning on the principle of proportionality regarding the restrictions, with the partial discrepancy that conscientious objection should also extend to the medical legal duties that make up the preparatory phase, as well as the one referring to the collection and final destruction of foetal remains.

This paper examines the scope of technical discretion of courts of justice within selection procedures in Spain. We set out the basic State legal framework on technical discretion and the need to control this discretion from the perspective of the right to effective judicial protection within selection procedures. Thereafter, we make a critical analysis of the doctrinal evolution that has occurred in relation to the judicial review of the administrative decisions issued by the selection boards. First, we have moved from a traditional doctrine that postulated the exclusion of judicial review of everything that fell within the board¿s technical judgment to a more advanced position that calls for a greater judicial review upon these administrative decisions. In particular, we discuss the most recent doctrine on this matter as significant advances are observed regarding a greater judicial review over the discretionary assessments of the specialized selection boards, so that the selection procedures are conducted with all the guarantees and with respect for the principles of equality, merit and capacity.

In this brief essay I shall reflect upon one of the options recalled by the recent White Paper of the European Commission and then supported by France, Germany, Italy and Spain in an informal meeting: namely asymmetry. This essay is structured as follows: in a first moment I shall recall how EU Treaties discipline the several asymmetric options present in EU law. In a second moment I shall explore the role acquired by asymmetry with the current European economic crisis. Eventually, I shall present some conclusions on the White Paper with regard to differentiated integration.

This paper aims at specifying the legal system rationale for the Basque Country¿s local government, the terms of its insertion within the Constitutional and legal framework at the National level ¿with a broad interpretation, including, therefore, both, the European Charter of Local Self- Government, and the European Primary Law-, and the resulting role this legal system has to play in the special territorial organization of Euskadi. Following that, the paper tries to identify the full development of the principle of local self-government as the main objective of the Basque legislator, indicating its consequences within the local government statute defined by it. On this basis, the paper analyzes the local self-government conception of the principle previously indicated, and concludes outlining new preventive mechanisms that are placed in the service of the referred self-government effectiveness.

Retaking a paper previously issued in 2013 with professor Alba Nogueira López about the legal problems raised at the time (2012) by professor´s replacement rate in spanish higher education sector due to staff cuts policies, the present paper reviews the evolution of this new legal framework in the provision of new academic positions, both non tenured and tenured, in Spanish universities, during the term of X legislature (2012-2015). We conclude that a) in this subject, the reform has been gone further than a simple budget cut, crossing the border line of covering job positions; b) far from being the end point of excepcional package of budget cut measures, this legislature has concluded with its permanent setting throughout Universities Law. Drawing from this conclusions, we discuss the consistency of that human resources management with reform politics of spanish higher education, triyng to highlighting the keys of upcoming changes in our particular academic environment.

In this paper we carry out an exhaustive analysis, from a methodological point of view, of STC 145/2015, of June 25. In it, we find numerous flaws in the implementation of the constitutional legal method in terms of respect for the text of the constitution, the following of precedent, the interpretative rule of article 10.2, the use of analogy, weighting, etc. The methodological failures, when they are numerous or serious, result in the discredit and delegitimization of the TC as guarantor of the Constitution and fundamental rights. It is therefore necessary for this institution to adhere to a rigorous legal method in the exercise of its jurisdictional activity.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the system of distribution of competences between the State and the Autonomous Communities in the field of promotion mesures and, more specifically, in the area of subsidies. To this end, the constitutional jurisprudence is analyzed over the more tan forty years of operation of the Constitutional Court. Three stages are distinguished, presided over by the main jurisprudential milestones in this area. The centralizing trend has presided over this entire process. Trough this jurisprudential work, a consolidated constitutional doctrine has been developed, with its advances and setbacks thar are not exempt from criticism.

This paper consists of two parts. T he first makes a detailed analysis of the phenomenon of the recognition and protection of rights by the statutes of autonomy (called statutory rights). The paper criticises the recognition of rights by this means. As regards the protection of those statutory rights, this paper focuses on the binding opinions of the Council of Statutory Guarantees of Catalonia on bills concerning those rights. These binding opinions were declared unconstitutional by the Judgment of the Spanish Constitutional Court 31/2010. The paper explores the reasons for this unconstitutionality. The second part proposes a new system of recognition and protection of «super-rights» in Catalonia that is respectful of this ruling of the Constitutional Court. Such proposal is inspired by British and Canadian weak constitutionalism.

This paper examines the effect of the Supreme Court's new doctrine on the nature of early retirement incentives for municipal public employees and whether they should be paid. Specifically, the Court ruled that early retirement bonuses are in the nature of remuneration and therefore, insofar as they are not established by an act with legal rank, they are contrary to law. This has meant a change of paradigm that has challenged Entities in the Basque Country (and the rest of Spain) in the management of the civil service and has made it necessary to repeal the Agreements regulating the working conditions of public employees and, to consider the possibility of reviewing previously adopted administrative acts. The article studies the regulations affected, the court rulings and the alternatives and solutions that the different local authorities are adopting.

This paper analyzes the current situation of the hydrogen economy within the European Union, as well as its possible regulatory developments.Hydrogen is, without a doubt, the new global key energy vector, in terms of decarbonising the economy and of effective sustainable energy transition. From the initially programmatic response at European level, despite the current global energy crisis, we are currently moving on to a progressive, albeit partial,specific regulation on renewable gases, including hydrogen. The ultimate goal is integration into the European energy system, and the creation of a true internalmarket for hydrogen, which shall have to assume, in any case, a series of requirements in terms of infrastructures, interconnections, guarantees of origin,standardization, protection of consumers etc. This study studies the current normative proposals in this regard.

In June 2022, The Basque legislature passed Act 6/2022 on the Procedure for the Drafting of General Provisions in Euskadi. This new act implies a boost to the normative quality within the Basque Autonomous Community. This article analyzes the most significant features of this legal text, bringing its more decisive factors to light and accordingly contributing to its dissemination and knowledge by the doctrine. Likewise, this paper aims more specifically to compare this new act to the perspective of the principles of better regulation set by the European Commission, an institution that is a reference regarding the quality of laws within our legal order.

In the last decade, the collaborative economy has changed the economic course and its exponential development has been associated with the irruption of information and communication technology (ICTs), and more specifically with the collaborative platforms that offer the intermediation service. The collaborative economy has burst into the urban passenger transport sector with tourism vehicles and this has crystallized in numerous conflicts between the taxi sector and tourism vehicles with driver. The Spanish legislator and courts try to define the legal and economic aspects that revolve around this new mode of transport, but this has caused great controversy, since ensuring a peaceful coexistence between the taxi sector and tourism vehicles with driver is not an easy task. There is an urgent need to introduce competition and consumer welfare, and for this reason the current regulatory framework deserves to be reviewed. Thus, this paper aims to analyze the legal regime of the leasing of tourism vehicles with driver from this collaborative economy perspective. Thus, we analyze the most recent case law on this matter, the pending litigation and, in particular, the controversial regional regulations adopted in the Basque Country (Decree 200/2019, of December 17) nd in Catalonia (Decree-law 9/2022, of July 5).

The aim of this paper on the current state of administrative appeals is to present an overall picture of the effectiveness of administrative justice, to the extent that the available data allow us to do so. To this end, and using statistics that show the lack of effectiveness of ordinary appeals, we identify the main problems of the aforementioned administrative appeals and then go on to make some de lege ferenda proposals for their improvement. These proposals arise from the study of the strengths of the special/sectorial appeals and from some successful experiences of other conflict resolution mechanisms, such as the Provincial Jury of Forced Expropriation, the Barcelona Tax Council and the University ombudsmen.

The British Government has published a major analysis paper on the implications of Scottish independence: «Scotland Analysis: Devolution and the Implications of Scottish Independence». The paper annexes an Opinion written by Professor James Crawford along with Professor Alan Boyle of the University of Edinburgh, entitled ¿Opinion: Referendum on the Independence of Scotland ¿ International Law Aspects¿. The Opinion concludes that if Scotland becomes independent, it will be considered a new state as a matter of international law and the remainder of the UK will continue the legal identity of the UK and retain its existing institutions generally uninterrupted. It rejects the alternative possibility that Scotland and the remainder of the UK will both be considered new states. The Opinion also concludes that one consequence of this is that the remainder of the UK will continue its membership of international organisations, whereas Scotland will have to join many of them as a new state. In particular, Scotland will have to join the EU as a new member state.

This paper aims to critically comment those Supreme Court¿s rulings regarding the validity of governmental decrees in which the possibility of taking into account procedural rules in the indirect appealing has been excluded. In this paper, the origins of this judicial doctrine will also be analyzed. In fact, being developed before the approval of the Spanish Constitution in 1978, such doctrine is based upon legal propositions which have been, already, overcome. To sum up, the purpose of this work is to surpass the limitations of the current legal doctrine, while claiming for the strict application of the sanction of nullity imposed to illegal governmental decrees by the legislation currently in forcé.

The paper tries to clarify the concept of functional administrative duplication, distinguishing it from the concurrences and the inefficiencies, and proposes a selective approach when addressing them. After identifying the critical areas for the occurrence of administrative duplications and inefficiencies, the paper examines the legal instruments available to avoid them assessing their effectiveness in income and spending public policies. The paper also analyzes recent legislative initiatives (the Municipality Law and the law on Basque public administration) which show significant changes in the internal institutionalization and government relations, assessing its innovations and shortcomings as a tool to overcome the administrative duplications.

This paper examines the context and the measures the EU has adopted throughout its evolution as a sui generis community to build a single energy market to ensure Member States¿ security of supply, competitiveness and sustainability. Under a retrospective approach and focusing the European experience, the article provides a systematization of various initiatives driven in the field of South American energy integration. The purpose of this paper is to identify the basic features and the main actions taken in the context of integration projects. It underlines some of the factors that have influenced the lack of progress and development of the integration initiatives.

This paper argumentation relies on the connecting pointsregarding nexus established in the Basque Economic Agreement and theirinterpretation by the Economic Agreement Arbitration Board throughout theirresolutions. The study shows how the capacity for self-government emanatingfrom the Basque Economic Agreement coordinates with absolute respect forSpanish internal law and Community Law. Moreover, we analyze how the regionaltax regulations are capable of adhering to the economic reality of their taxpayersin a closer way to achieve greater collection efficiency. We defend this hypothesisby examining the case of freezer tuna vessels due to the relevance in this sector ofcompanies with tax headquarters in Bizkaia (Basque Country) and because theyare directly related to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals ofthe 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

Technological progress is the motivating agent of the configuration of a society with unprecedented characteristics and needs that force the constant adaptation of the legal system. In this sense, it is undeniable that Public Administrations¿ legal regimen cannot remain aloof from this transforming movement. In such a way that, as the digital society consolidates, the need to convert its functional and organisational system increases, in order to prevent Public Administrations from continuing to objectively serve the general interest, and to act in accordance with the general principles of efficiency and coordination. In this respect, the legal regime of e-administration is a suitable basis for initiating this transformation, provided that some of the dysfunctions detected are purged, and specific actions are taken to achieve its conversion. This paper studies the principles enshrined in our legal system that represent the basis on which the configuration of the Digital Administration is to be built.

Participatory urbanism requires democratic and participatory urban governance, so the role traditionally played by the administration in city design should change, opening new channels of participation in order to involve citizenship that demand visibility and a higher profile in urban public policies. The aim of this paper is to analyze how public managers should carry out the governance of collaborative urban planning, knowing which the technologies are a necessary tool to achieve success. In this scenario, platform cooperatives, with the values of cooperativism, are very useful for public managers, as they allow the administration and society to interact, discuss and agree on urban policies, within the framework of a true collaborative urbanism.

This paper addresses the study, from a global, inclusive and systematic perspective, of the so-called ¿right to the city¿, an issue that has been an object of interest for administrative law for several years. Our purpose is to analyze how theoretical assumptions of this concept, built up from the works of authors such as H. Lefebvre and D. Harvey, have been institutionalized through a series of international instruments ¿the charters of the right to the city¿ and how they are integrated into legal regulations. We will deal specifically with the defining aspects of this right and its content, which is certainly heterogeneous, given its consideration as a ¿right of rights¿, paying special attention to an aspect that is considered fundamental to connect the ideal that represents the right to the city with its legal construction: citizen participation. Finally, some reflections will be offered on the possibility of configuring the right to the city as a legal principle.

This paper constitutes a jurisprudential study on motivación in public procurement. The statement of reasons is an essential requirement, whose lack leads to the annulment of the challenged act, although its effects are usually limited to the retroaction ot the procedure so as to carry out a sufficient reasoning. The motivation can be based on the technical reports that support the administrative resolution.

The mandatory or voluntary nature of vaccination is the subject of debate in the health crisis due to Covid-19. The commitment to voluntariness responds to the wide social acceptance of vaccination and the uncertain current scientific evidence. However, the analysis of health and emergency regulations would allow the imposition of a mandatory vaccination in certain cases. This is demonstrated by the study of jurisprudence in cases prior to and contemporaneous with the pandemic. For its part, the recent ECHRS of April 8, 2021 (Vavřička case) endorses the legitimacy of compulsory childhood vaccination, taking into account the best interests of the minor and social solidarity. This doctrine represents a new approach to the debate on the limitation and weighting of rights in the field of vaccination. Lege ferenda, this paper proposes a legislative reform that clarifies and reinforces the Spanish vaccination model.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the horizontal career and its impact on local governments. Relevant aspects such as the regulatory framework, the subjective and objective scope of application, the main characteristics and the requirements for the professional progress of public employees in the successive levels, scales or grades will be studied. The horizontal career path, together with performance evaluation, are two essential factors for the modernisation of our public administrations.

There are different financing models for the maintenance of Spanish roads, which are based either on gratuity for road users or on payment for the use of such infrastructures. Regardless of the alternative chosen, the essential characteristic which any financing system must meet are identical, requiring submission to stable, predictable and proportional criteria. In this sense, the paper addresses the different financing formula, trying to highlight their difficulties and virtues, as well as offering legal tools in order to mitigate any problems that may arise. In particular, the work will analyse the financing of roads from general budgets, the implementation of user charges - linked to the duration of road use - or the use of tolls - which are levied on the distance travelled by road users.

This essay analyzes the confusing, changing and contradictory legal regime of interim or temporary civil servants in Spain. The abuse played upon this figure and the schemes related to turning public employees into civil servants have indeed blurred the limits raised between them, in addition to the risks posed by the highly temporality levels, specially suffered by public health and educational services, to both labour rights and job stability and quality. Thousands of public jobs are affected by this situation, and aiming at making clear the details of that situation a review of its legal regime is shown in this paper, framed by the EU law and constitucional and administrative case-law, beginning with job appointments and ending up with their dismissal and severance pay, along with their authority, jurisdiction, and career development.

When the Spanish Administration assumes payment commitments derived from contracts, without having the prior budget or exceeding the preexisting credit, those expenses will be automatically void. However, the invalidity of these contracts could not exempt the Administration from the obligation to compensate those services provided by third parties in good faith, if this avoids the unjust enrichment. For this reason, the extrajudicial recognition of credits was created as an exceptional mechanism that seeks to avoid the unjust enrichment. Therefore, this paper analyzes the legitimacy of this mechanism from the perspective of the theory of unjust enrichment ¿understood as an autonomous source of obligations¿, as well as we also examine the most important Spanish case law disputes about this institution of extrajudicial recognition of credits in recent times.

This paper analyses the legal legitimacy of articles 61 and 62 of the Royal Decree 128/2018, of March 16, regulating the legal regime of Local Administrations¿ civil servants with a national habilitation. Articles 61 and 62 attribute disciplinary power over the aforementioned officials to different Public Administrations depending on whether they are permanent or temporary civil servants. The analysis leads to the conclusion that such a distinction constitutes a discriminatory treatment towards temporary civil servants.

This paper addresses the subjection or not of the irrigation communities -and of any communities of public water users- to the Public Sector Contracts Law. This is a contentious issue, as demonstrated by the fact that radically opposed interpretations of it have been advocated by some contractual administrative courts. The sustained conclusion is contrary to the consideration of the irrigation communities as an integral part of the subjective scope of application of the public sector contracts legislation, since they do not fit either in the concept of public administration or in the contracting authority that lacks of the status of public administration nor, finally, in the category of public sector entities which do not have the character of contracting authority.

This paper analyzes the case law resulting from hydrological plans adopted by the Government of Spain for the period 2016-2021. Most of the lawsuits have been dismissed, except in three cases: the lack of environmental objectives and ecological flows for the Tagus river; the dredging of the Guadalquivir river and the plans for the Andalusian basins. The document schematizes arguments of a very different nature, such as the powers of the interim government, the omission of procedures and reports, the value attributed to expert evidence as well as logically the substantive issues. The knowledge and criticism of this jurisprudence seems essential to enhance the future hydrological planning.

Citizens collaborate with the government in the lawmaking process at an early stage and throughout the life of a legislative act by means of periodic consultations and citizens´ initiatives. This paper focuses on consultation and citizens´ initiatives as the principal mechanisms for participatory democracy in the context of smart regulation lawmaking in the European Union. A regulatory policy based on smart regulation takes the view that legislation and regulations serve the economy and, therefore, legal acts must aim to create conditions capable of boosting national economies and economic growth. Such a regulatory policy is informed by a set of principles which includes transparency, cooperation, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, participation and openness, and is applicable to both regulatory institutions and regulations. This regulatory approach takes the view that regulations are of better quality when they have been influenced by citizens, and smart regulation results in participatory democracy.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the criteria of the Spanish Constitutional Court in relation to the requirement, prior to the action for infringement of fundamental rights before the Constitutional Court, to lodge the nullity incidental plea against the second-to-last court decision that is detrimental to fundamental rights, when this had been appealed in cassation and dismissed for reasons which cannot be attributed to the appellant.

This paper analyses the changing nature of the contemporary subnational regionalism through the example of the Basque Country. It shows in what ways the Basque regionalist strategies have evolved from parochial and confrontational to outward looking, cooperative and innovative, adapting to the challenges of European integration and the emergence of new modes of European governance. On the basis of theoretical tools provided by contemporary regional studies this paper explores the emerging hybrid type of Basque regionalism consisting of the new, postmodern and transnational components which serve to strenghten the economic, political and social competence of the region as an active player in European affairs. The question of the direction of regionalist strategies in the EU seems especially salient in the view of the emerging European multi-level governance where power has been dispersed away from central governments; upwards to the supranational level, downwards to subnational jurisdictions and sideways to public and private networks of non-state actors which has given the regionalists new possibilities of achieving similar goals.

Marinas fall within the competence of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country and therefore part of the objective scope of the recent Law 2/2018, of 28 June, on Ports and Maritime Transport of the Basque Country. The paper examines the most important aspects introduced concerning marinas, such as the new organisational model, the services and public domain management, with particular consideration of the regime of moorings and possible non-strictly port uses that may develop in such ports. The research also reviews those aspects that the Law does not resolve and from a comparative perspective of the regulation of marinas in Autonomous Communities.

In this paper we have tried to systematize the rights of Spaniards and foreigners in the Spanish Constitution, studying the ownership and conditions of exercise of the rights of both groups of people. For this purpose, we have started with three interpretive rules, formulated in the language of predicate logic, to which we have added the two specific rules of articles 13.1 and 13.2 CE. In accordance with these rules, we have criticized the confused constitutional jurisprudence on this matter, and have made an alternative interpretation and classification of the rights of foreigners; first, of the rights contained in Title I, and then, of those located in other titles of the Constitution.

This paper analyzes the general regime of representation and empowerment within the common administrative procedure, stating both the classic or traditional conceptions on the matter and the problems arising from the online representation and empowerment by focusing on the issues that poses the latter and customizing some guidelines for their solution. Besides the resultant regime within the general common procedure, it is also analyzed two special common procedures due to their massiveness: procedures in the tax sphere and in the Social Security area. A fieldwork is also included where the practice followed by thirty administrative bodies when requiring the proof of representation shows the wide disparity in the existing criteria.

Spanish Procura is a unique function, usually considered anachronistic and thus, regularly censured. This paper analyses how an apparently minor change in a side-regulation might open for those professionals a market, as legal representatives of Public Administrations. Something vital, as the subsistence of the profession itself is being questioned.