What We Said Yesterday: A Look into the Parliamentary Administration during the Constituent Legislature

Abstract

On June 15, 1977, the first democratic elections were held after forty years of Franco's dictatorship. The Cortes elected were in charge of giving form and content to the Spanish Constitution of 1978. In addition to parliamentarians, the Houses counted on the work of many other people who tried to normalize parliamentary life and helped ease the work of the constituents. The Parliamentary Administration of the Cortes Españolas, unicameral and with a limited legislative activity, had to be transformed into a parliamentary Administration of a democratic, bicameral Parliament and with supervision to the Government and legislative functions in great degree, since they had to create the Constitution. The bases to consolidate this Administration are built in the Constituent Legislature, in parallel to the drafting of the Constitution, and will serve as support for the subsequent administrative development that would culminate in the approval of the Statute of the ‘Cortes Generales Staff’ in 1983. Knowing this process, through the documentary material and also the memories of the officials who lived it in the first person, can help us to know better the current parliamentary Administration.