Spain key numbers:

•  Surface Area : 504.782 km²
• Capital : Madrid (3,2 millions inhabitants)
• Main cities : Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Séville, Bilbao
• Official Language : Espagnol (basque, catalan, galicien, valencien)
• Currency : Euro
• Spain’s national Day: 12 October (America’s discovering)

Spain is constitutional monarchy in which the chief of the state is the King.

The executive power is exerced by the government and the legislative power is for the Parliament, The judicial power is independent from these.

It is managed by the president of the government  

 So Spain is defined as a constitutional parliamentary monarchy. It is based on the constitution of 1978.  That constitution made Spain a country in which the king reign but doesn’t governs. The consititution also involves that all the regions of Spain are autonomous communities.

The governement has to deal with the international politic, manage justice and econonomy, national defense and make laws for the state.

The autonomous communities have to planify and develop their economies, use their ressources , protect environment, deal with education and health.

Spain is a kingdom. The king is the chief of the state, the chief of the army. He has to stay above all the governement businesses. He can’t intervene in it. He represent the unity of the state, and the country in the international relations.

The king can’t  dissolve the Parliament, and can make a proposition about who will preside the government but it’s only a proposition.

The succession on the throne is hereditary, and follow the musculine line.  

The Spanish constitution is based on a principle of separation of powers. There are three differents powers : legislative, executive and judicial.

The three different powers of the state :

-       The legislative power is under the responsability of the Parliament. This Parliament is composed of the House of the Representatives and the Senate.

·      The House of Representatives create, vote, and modify laws. For the vote of a law, the House of  Representatives vote, and then Senate vote. The Constitution alows the king to enact or not laws. They also deal with the budgets of the State, control the government action and deal with the attribution of the taxation, ect … The organization and the dissolution of that House of Representative depends on the government. It is composed of three hundred fifty deputies elected by proportional universal suffrage. There are fifty province in Spain. They all have an inital number of deputies an they can add some deputies depending on the number of inhabitants. Deputies are elected for four years.

·      The Senate is the territorial representation room. It is composed of comunity senators elected by majority vote by the Assembly of each Autonomous Community. There are four senators in each province. They are elected for four years. They have a « veto » right.

-       The executive power is under the responsability of the government chaired by the president of the government. The president of the government is the person in charge in front of the Parliament. He is assisted by the vice-president and he is in charge of  appointing or remove ministers. There are fourteen miniters.

The election of the president of the government is indirect, by the legislative power for four years. The king can propose a candidate for the presidency of the governement. This candidate explain its program to the House of Representatives. To be elected he needs half and one poll. If the candidate is not elected, there is a new vote. Then, the president of the government take oath to the Constitution and the King.

The government of Spain is composed by the ministers council and by the government delegated commissions.

·      Council of the miniters : it is a whole collegial body created and eliminated by the Royal Decree of the Ministers Council, with a proposition of the President of the Government

- Judicial power : he is directed by the courts of justice.  It is  devided according to the following classification :

-       Prosecution court : directed by the public prosecutor, named by the King.  He defends the respect of the law, the citizens interests, and the independance of the judiciary

-       Supreme court : it is the cassation court, situated in Madrid.

-       National Audience : deals with the national affairs

-       Territorial or provincial audiences : act in the provinces or in the autonomous commnunities.

The autonomous communities have a president, an elected autonomous assembly, and autonomous courts.

Currently, in Spain, Mariano Rajoy is the president of the government, since the 21th December of 2011. And the actual king is Felipe VI, since the 19th June of 2014.

Spain map :