In Spain, a Government Delegation oversees and supervises all services of the central government and its public agencies (collectively known as the General State Administration) within an Autonomous Community. Effectively, they represent the Government in the territory of an Autonomous Community and ensure the governmental services are coordinated with the administration of the Autonomous Community. Delegations also exercise their role through Sub-Delegations, headquartered in the provinces and Insular Directorates, headquartered in some islands.
Government Delegations were established pursuant Section 154 of the Spanish Constitution.[1] The sub-delegations and insular directorates were established in 1997 to replace the civil governors that existed since the beginning of the 19th century. In total, there are 19 government delegations, 44 sub-delegations and 7 insular directorates. All of them are part of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory.
The Government Delegations are the bodies that represent the central government in the autonomous communities. The principal officer of a Delegation is the Government Delegate. Government Delegates have the rank of Under Secretaries and they report to the Prime Minister, although normally this reporting line is delegated from the Prime Minister to the Minister for Territorial Policy or, the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy. They are appointed by the Council of Ministers at the request of the Premier. If the office of Delegate is vacant, they are replaced by the Sub-delegate until a new Delegate is appointed. In the regions with a sole province, if there is no sub-delegate the Secretary-General of the delegation temporarily assumes office.
Unlike the sub-delegations and insular directorates, Government Delegations are provided for in the constitution. The main tasks of the delegations are:[2]
To coordinate the General State Administration services and public bodies in the region.Headquarters of the Delegation and Sub-delegation of the Government in the Community of Madrid.
To inform the citizens about the government activities in the region.Delegation of the Government in Galicia.Headquarters of the Government Delegation in Catalonia and of the Sub-delegation in Barcelona.Sub-delegation of the Government in Burgos.Sub-delegation of the Government in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
To coordinate the government departments with other public administrations.
To guarantee the correct application of the norms and laws and the respect for the powers of the central government.
To propose measures to the Ministry responsible in order to avoid the inefficiency of the administration and the duplicity of public bodies.
Sub-delegation of the Government in Biscay.Headquarters of the Government Sub-delegation in the Province of Alicante.It is up to the Government Delegates to protect the free exercise of the constitutional rights and freedoms and to guarantee public security, through the Government Sub-delegates and the State Security Forces and Corps. For this purpose, the Delegate is the head of the state law enforcement agencies in the region.
The Government Sub-delegations are bodies that represent the central government in the Spanish provinces. The Sub-delegations were created by the 1997 General State Administration Organization and Functioning Act to replace the Civil Governors.[3] It exists a Sub-delegate of the Government in each province under the authority of the regional-level Government Delegate. They are appointed by the Delegate from career civil servants and they exercise the same powers of the Delegate but at a provincial level.[2]
In the single-province autonomous communities and in the autonomous cities, as a general rule, the Government Delegate assumes the powers that the Law attributes to the Government Sub-delegates in the provinces. These regions are Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Ceuta, Melilla, Murcia, Navarre and La Rioja.[2] In Madrid, since 2003, because of its importance as the capital of the Kingdom and despite being a single-province region, there is both Delegate and Sub-Delegate of the Government.[4]
Headquarters of the Government Sub-delegation in Zamora.
Headquarters of the central government's Insular Directorate in Fuerteventura.
According to Section 70 of the Legal Regime of the Public Sector Act, the existence of Insular Directors is not mandatory. When they exist, they are freely appointed by the Government Delegate among civil servants and they depend directly from the Delegate or the Sub-delegate if exists. Their official title is Insular Directors of the General State Administration and they possess the same powers as a subdelegate.[2]
In order to assist the Government Delegates, there are two kind of collective bodies. The first kind are to Government Delegations which powers extend in more than one province, while the second is for one-province delegations.[2] The Sub-delegates also have an assistance bodies and there is a nation-wide committee to coordinate all Delegations.
These bodies are chaired by the Delegate of the Government and made up of the Sub-delegates of the Government of the provinces of its jurisdiction and the heads of the other departments and agencies of the Delegation. They exist to coordinate the actions of the different bodies, to homogenize the policies, to advise the Delegate of the Government and to discuss any other matter that the Delegate considers relevant.[2]
In the single-province Autonomous Communities, there is an assistance body chaired by the Delegate of the Government and made up of the Secretary-General of the Delegation (who runs day-to-day the Delegation) and the heads of the other departments and agencies of the Delegation.[2]
In each Sub-delegation of the Government there is an assistance committee to the Sub-delegate made up of the Secretary-General of the Sub-delegation and the heads of the other departments and services of the Sub-delegation. They do the same duties as the other assistance bodies but at a provincial level.[2]
Coordination Committee' meeting in February 2020.
Interministerial Coordination Committee on the State Peripheral Administration
The Interministerial Coordination Committee on the State Peripheral Administration is a body of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Civil Service chaired by the Minister and integrated by the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy (deputy chair), the Secretary-General for Territorial Coordination, all the Under Secretaries of the government departments, all the Delegates of the Government and the Director-General for Internal Policy. To the meetings of the committee also assists the Deputy Director-General for the Boost of Peripheral Administration which acts as Secretary of the committee and other senior officials of the Administrations invited by the chair.[29]
The committee is charged with improving the coordination of the central government Peripheral Administration, to improve information sharing, to establish a unique criteria of action and to discuss relevant issues for the government policy in the regions.[29]
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Andalusia
Almería
Cádiz
Córdoba.svg){kind=small}
Granada
Huelva
Jaén
Málaga
Seville
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Huesca.svg){kind=small}
Teruel.svg){kind=small}
Zaragoza
Cantabria
Castilla–La Mancha
Albacete
Ciudad Real
Cuenca
Guadalajara
Toledo
Castile and León
Ávila
Burgos
León
Palencia
Salamanca
Segovia
Soria
Valladolid
Zamora
Catalonia.svg){kind=small}
Barcelona.svg){kind=small}
Girona
Lleida.svg){kind=small}
Tarragona
Ceuta
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Valencian Community
Alicante
Castellón
Valencia
Extremadura
Badajoz
Cáceres
Galicia
La Coruña
Lugo
Ourense
Pontevedra
Balearic Islands.svg){kind=small}
Canary Islands
Las Palmas
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
La Rioja
Melilla
Navarre
Basque Country
Álava
Guipúzcoa
Biscay
Principality of Asturias
Region of Murcia
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Ibiza-Formentera
Menorca
Lanzarote
La Palma
La Gomera
El Hierro