Parliament to publish outline of laws that can be made to 'expand self-government'

Parliament speaker Josep Rull has announced that at the end of the year, the chamber will publish an out line on the areas in which the Catalan parliament "should be able to legislate to expand the perimeter of self-government."

"In recent years, the Congress and the Senate have legislated a lot and the Parliament has legislated very little," Rull, of the pro-independence party Junts per Catalunya, argued. "The self-government of Catalonia has been shrinking."

Two specific reports of outlines will be published: one on the areas in which the chamber has scope to make laws and another to detect duplication in certain regulations. The first is expected to be made public at the end of 2025.

Rull stated that one of his objectives, shared with the Bureau, is to improve the legislative procedure and the quality of laws that are made in Parliament.

The head of the Catalan chamber believes that a law must be able to be approved within a period of 7 or 8 months. The parliament bureau has already forwarded a series of recommendations to parties to shorten the hearing period and thus avoid long legal procedures.

Regarding legislative quality, he would like there to be a "self-evaluation mechanism" after two years of approving a law.

Budgets, the "million-dollar question"

A "fundamental question" for this government are whether they are capable of approving budgets, Rull said. The Catalan parlimant has not approved a new spending plan since 2023. 

"A minority government must understand that it is a minority government and, therefore, seek agreements," the parliament speaker considers.

He warned that "opportunities are being missed" with the mechanisms of the credit supplements that the government has applied for 2025 - supplementing the past budget law that is still in place, as the most recent spending plan is always rolled into the year unless there are new budgets to replace it.