57% of the legislation approved in Spain during 2022 derives from European directives and decisions

During 2022, the third year of the 14th Spanish legislature, the Congress of Deputies and the Senate passed a total of 73 laws. Of these, 42 laws regulate aspects that respect the line set by the European Union institutions.

In other words, 57% of the laws passed (including Organic Laws, Ordinary Laws and Royal Decrees – Laws) derive in one way or another from decisions adopted by the European Parliament.

Of these 42 regulations deriving from Europe, 21 respond to the mandate to implement Community regulations or to the transposition into Spanish domestic law of directives approved by the European Parliament and the Council, some of them as significant as the Audiovisual Communication Services Directive, approved in 2018 to adapt to the new reality of the audiovisual market; the Directive establishing a single railway area for the EU; the Regulation governing the new European Union Agency for Criminal Judicial Cooperation (Eurojust); or the Regulation containing the rules to be applied by Member States when designing their strategic plans to adapt to the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Throughout the year, the Spanish Parliament has also approved, in response to the decisions adopted by the EU, several packages of measures aimed at alleviating the serious social, economic and energy consequences of the war in Ukraine, which have been included in various laws and Royal Decree-Laws.

Other legislative initiatives approved, as a result of the application and transposition into Spanish law of European regulations and directives, are related to:

• Waste and contaminated soil
• Telecommunications
• Road transport workers
• Financial information for investigating criminal offenses
• Equal treatment and non-discrimination
• Insolvency Law and Commercial Courts
• Law for the creation and growth of companies
• Gambling regulation
• Mortgage loan market

The rest of the regulations approved (21 other regulations) derive from recommendations, guidelines, programs or initiatives issued by the Council, the Commission, the European Parliament or other EU institutions. In other words, they follow the line of action set out by the EU institutions.

These legislative initiatives regulate matters related to the protection of vulnerable consumers, drought in the agricultural sector, the security of 5G communications, professional training, the electricity market, building rehabilitation, temporality in the Health Services, energy saving and efficiency, the transitional reduction of VAT on fuels and the protection of energy and gas consumers.

European laws on the rise

This is the third consecutive year in which the Office of the European Parliament in Spain presents these figures, which reflect the influence of European decisions on national policy.

In the four preceding years, the percentage of Spanish laws derived from European directives and decisions has ranged from 42% in 2019 to 56% in 2022, the year with the highest record of laws with European origin since this study began.

In 2019, a total of 11 regulations out of the 26 legislative initiatives approved derived directly from European directives and recommendations. The percentage reached 42.31% of laws with European origin, related to business secrets, intellectual property, real estate credit contracts or the financial and terrorism fields.

In 2020, this percentage rose to 50%. Of the 27 regulations derived from European decisions, 8 included the transposition of directives related to the regulation of the greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, the harmonization of VAT taxation, energy efficiency, the harmonization of tax dispute resolution in the EU or the use of passenger data for the prevention of terrorism.

The percentage of laws derived from European directives and decisions added, in 2021, 4 points more, standing at 51% of the legislative initiatives approved. Among the 33 regulations with European origin, there were transpositions of directives related to hybrid asymmetries, tax avoidance, money laundering, enhanced cooperation for the creation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the food chain or the Omnibus Law for the transposition of European Directives.

According to Jaume Duch, Director General of Communication and Spokesman of the European Parliament, “for the third consecutive year, the study of the European Parliament Office in Spain confirms that more than half of the legislation approved by the Spanish Parliament is of European origin. This year, the percentage of laws approved that derive from the application of regulations or the transposition of European directives is 57%, the highest figure recorded since this annual balance began to be carried out”.

In his opinion, “the data shows that European integration is not an aspiration of the Community institutions, it is a reality that influences the day-to-day life of citizens, in key areas such as agriculture, judicial cooperation, transport, equal treatment or the creation and growth of companies.

This interdependence between national and European policies is, precisely at a time of economic, energy and social crisis such as the one we are going through, more necessary than ever”.

Source: European Parliament