During a debate held on this theme by the Chamber of Regions of Congress on 22 March, several speakers reviewed the benefits and the drawbacks of such assemblies, drawing on specific examples.
For Rafael Bustos Gisbert, a Spanish member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, the second chambers of parliaments are criticised by some, as they would represent more citizens, in addition without homogeneity of size or population. They may even be considered to serve no purpose or to be too subservient to political parties. However, they do offer many opportunities, particularly in fostering a balanced, complementary relationship between the national and the regional level, which is even stronger if it operates within the framework of a federalised country.
“I would say that the answer to the question put in this debate varies from one country to the other depending on its own specific political organisation”, argued Mr Bustos Gisbert. This view was shared by other speakers, who considered it worth continuing research into this theme on the basis of the individual situations of each member State, also pointing out that the Venice Commission was currently carrying out work on bicameralism.
Mr Bustos Gisbert’s faith in the benefits of second chambers did not just derive from the fact that he had chaired the Bundesrat, the second chamber of the Austrian Parliament, since the beginning of the year; Günter Kovac, the representative of Burgenland, Austria’s smallest region, considered that the Bundesrat played a strong political role in the country’s architecture. For example, it recently prevented the privatisation of drinking water in Burgenland, and Mr Kovac saw this chamber as a good representative of regional interests.
How can regions be better represented in parliaments?
The Senator and Chair of Romania’s European Affairs Committee, Vasile Dincu, would, for his part, like Romania’s Senate to become a true “Chamber of Regions”, a desire which often attracted stinging criticism from his opponents, who accused him of “lacking patriotism”. Romanian bicameralism, which had been re-established after the revolution of 1989, had given the Senate a number of powers, particularly with regard to international treaties and institutional acts. Furthermore, the Senate could question the government, meaning that it could act as a mouthpiece for citizens. Mr Dincu considered nonetheless that the regions’ interests were not sufficiently represented by the Senate and would like there to be a move in this direction, together with a strengthening of regional administrative capacities.
Daria Terradez Salom, the Director General for the European Union of the Valencia Region (Spain), described how the Spanish constitution organised regional self-government within Spain’s national set-up. The Senate had 266 members, most of whom were from the country’s provinces, which formed an intermediate level between the municipalities and the autonomous communities or regions. Only 58 members sat on behalf of the regions, which each contained a number of provinces. However, the autonomous communities had other means of bringing their political influence to bear and making their voices heard at central government level. For instance, they sat, along with the head of the national government, on the Conference of Presidents and several sectoral conferences. Ms Terradez Salom thought that the regions took the view that it would probably be easier to increase the autonomous communities’ participation through these conferences than through a reform of the Senate.
Second chambers can preserve the balance between state and regions
Following these presentations, Karl-Heinz Lambertz (Belgium, SOC/G/PD) talked of the “added value” of second chambers for balance between the state and the regions, which was especially important given that this balance could sometimes be under threat: “In Belgium, some parties would like to do away with the second chamber, precisely because they have understood that these chambers strengthen a state which they no longer want”, he said.
Lastly, Thomas Andersson (Sweden, ILDG) pointed out that a large number of European states did not have a second chamber, as was the case in Sweden, but this did not necessarily mean that the regional and local authorities had fewer powers than elsewhere. “Ours for instance can raise taxes”, he said, while also arguing in favour of continued pooling of experience and comparative studies on political balances within European countries. Fatna El-K’hiel (Morocco, NR) pointed to the tradition of bicameralism in Morocco, which had been established in 1963 and reinforced several times since. Morocco’s local and regional authorities were represented in the country’s “House of Councillors”.
****
44th Session
Agenda – Web file – Multimedia (Live webcasts, interviews, videos and photo)
