Spanish Constitutional Reform Procedures: Articles 167 and 168

The Ordinary Process of Constitutional Reform

The ordinary process of reform (Article 167 EC) consists of different variants. In its basic form (Article 167.1 EC), the reform project—which is strictly speaking from the Government, or a proposition from the Congress or Senate—must be approved by a majority of three-fifths (3/5) of each of the Chambers. This majority is calculated in relation to the total number of its members de jure, a parliamentary practice that applies to those who have acquired the full status of Deputies or Senators respectively.

The Constitution provides for the possibility that the two Houses disagree on the text adopted by each of them. If there is any difference in the text approved by the Senate with respect to the prior approval by the Congress of Deputies, a Joint Committee of equal representation of representatives and senators is formed. Its mission is to achieve a consensus text to be submitted to both Houses in order to be approved by that three-fifths (3/5) majority.

It must be understood that the reform effort has failed if the text is rejected by either Chamber before the final vote, whether it was necessary to establish a Joint Committee or not. The same applies if the Joint Committee, once formed, does not reach an agreement on the text to submit to both Houses.

The Aggravated Reform Procedure

The Constitution determines that the decision to carry out a reform of those identified in Article 168.1 must be approved by a two-thirds (2/3) majority of each Chamber. If the principle of constitutional reform is approved by the aforementioned majority in both Houses, they proceed to the immediate dissolution of the same.

The newly elected Houses must then first ratify the decision. For this ratification, no qualified majority is required; a simple majority in favor of the reform is sufficient. They then proceed to study the text of the draft or proposed constitutional reform, which must be approved in both Houses by a majority of two-thirds (2/3). Once approved by the Parliament, the reform must be subject to a ratification referendum.

It is, therefore, a considerably more complex procedure that involves the intervention of two different legislatures and two queries to the electorate:

• The first Chambers adopt the decision to conduct the reform by a high majority.
• The Parliament elected after the dissolution performs the actual reform.

This allows the electorate to rule immediately on whether or not the reform itself and its contents should proceed, and on which parliamentary forces should have the majority in those Constituent Cortes. Finally, once the reform is approved by these second Chambers, the electorate has to decide on its contents again, this time directly through a referendum.