The central role of Parliament. A critical theory of functions

Abstract

The defense of the essential character of Parliament in contemporary democratic societies is compatible with the proposal of the need for its reform. This paper analyzes this paradoxical relationship, developing a special interest in the following proposals. The fundamental aim of any reform that is put forward on the Parliament has to be to claim its main role in the public sphere and in politics. With regard to the legislative function, a substantive and procedural reform can be postulated. Substantively, the Parliament must recover the legislative role, reducing the intervention of the executive in the normative function, establishing quantitative and qualitative limits to the regulatory exceptionality of the executive. Procedurally, we must point out the need to limit the procedures of single reading, which must be linked to simple issues and marked by majority consensus. Related to this legislative function, the budget will be analyzed. The role of parliaments in budgeting has to be qualified. The integration function should be a priority in a context of fragmented Parliaments. From there, the role of Parliaments in resolving conflicts, including territorial ones, must be strengthened. Participation, the Parliament participated, is the benchmark of any other reform. Its presence is transversal to the modification of all the specified functions. That is, the role of Parliament as a bulwark of the essence of the democratic State of the 21st century.