Status of members: new and old problems

Abstract

The author discusses the Professor Cámara Villar's presentation on Member’s Status at the Sessions on the Congress of Deputies’ Standing Orders Anniversary. In his speech, Professor Cámara analyses not only aspects relating the Title I of the Standing Orders, but also other issues having a great practical significance, such as the nature and scope of the parliamentary mandate with a focus, above all, on the "balanced claim" between the powers of the Member himself and the discipline of the political group to which he or she belongs.

The paper also examines other new legal aspects such as telematic voting, profusely used during the Covid-19 pandemic, the disqualification regime due to public and private causes and the need to deeply reform it, as well as the Member’s immunity and inviolability, the criteria for granting or denial judiciary petitions requesting that a Member be put on trial (suplicatorio), all of this under the interpretative criteria set up by the case-law of Constitutional Court and the most recent doctrine.