Thirty Years of Economic Analysis in the Spanish Parliament. Challenges for the Future.

Abstract

These lines provide a review of the activities which have been carried out over the last three decades by the unit within the General Secretariat of the Congress of Deputies, which is committed to preparing independent analyses of economic and budgetary matters whose recipients are members of the Chamber and its bodies. A path this unit has walked alongside the current Spanish Constitution for at least three quarters of its lifetime. It’s important to highlight that international organisations and institutions link the achievement of the efficient operation of parliaments to having specialised technical units as an instrument of independent, neutral and non-partisan analysis.

The main constitutional principles which drive the activity of the Department of Economic and Budgetary Analysis are: effectiveness and efficiency.
After reviewing past experiences, giving particular mention to just some of them, the scope of what could be the future of economic and budgetary analysis in the Spanish parliamentary arena will be outlined, after having examined some examples of parliaments of our neighboring countries. The quest for synergies and learning through the continuity of the interaction between “sister” units and the establishment of a collaboration framework with national economic analysis and fiscal policy institutions, are the final themes of this paper. Actions that will undoubtedly contribute to the regaining of centrality by the parliamentary institution.