The Venice Commission backs the 2015 reform of the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court

In its report, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe stressed, firstly, the importance of all individuals and institutions wholly complying with the rulings and decisions of constitutional courts. In the words of the Commission, "when a public authority refuses to enforce a ruling handed down by the Constitutional Court, it is violating the constitution, including the principles of the rule of law, the separation of powers and loyal cooperation between State public institutions and the legitimacy of the measures that lead to their enforcement".

It then made an analysis of comparative law on this matter, concluding that several systems exist in Europe are possible. One of them is to attribute the powers to enforce its own rulings to the same court, as happens in Spain, which has followed the German model.

The Commission assessed the general nature of Spanish law which allows any interested party to call for enforcement, the procedural guarantees established prior to the adoption of enforcement measures of binding rulings of the Constitutional Court and the obligation to assist in their practical implementation that is incumbent on all State powers at all tiers of government.

All the types of measures provided for in the legal amendment, which include, inter alia, the possibility of temporarily suspending public officials from the exercise of their functions, are considered suitable from the perspective of comparative constitutional law, and the Commission made some recommendations in relation to their practical application.

This opinion confirms the legality of the Spanish law approved in 2015. The aim of this reform was to provide the Constitutional Court, a fundamental institution to defend and guarantee the rule of law, with sufficient tools to ensure the effective compliance with its rulings and decisions. The law now ratified also provides that the Constitutional Court can apply for the assistance of any public power or authority, with the Government of the Nation at its head, which are obliged to attend to these requests for collaboration on a preferential and urgent basis.

The amendment to the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court during the 10th Legislature thus managed to complete our system by allowing the Constitutional Court to enforce its rulings both when they affect individual citizens and when they affect institutions, thereby ensuring the full effectiveness of the rule of law.

The Venice Commission, technically known as the European Commission for Democracy through Law, is a consultative body of the Council of Europe for constitutional issues. On this occasion, it has issued its report following a request from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.