Cortes Generales in the context of "Madrid Accords"

The government of Spain (Spanish: Gobierno de España) is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain.

The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the overall direction of the Ministers and can appoint or terminate their appointments freely. The ministers also belong to the supreme decision-making body, known as the Council of Ministers. The Government is responsible before the Parliament (Cortes Generales), and more precisely before the Congress of the Deputies, a body which elects the Prime Minister or dismisses them through a motion of censure. This is because Spain is a parliamentary system established by the Constitution of 1978.

The Cortes of Cádiz was a revival of the traditional cortes (Spanish parliament), which as an institution had not functioned for many years, but it met as a single body, rather than divided into estates as with previous ones.

The General and Extraordinary Cortes that met in the port of Cádiz starting 24 September 1810 "claimed legitimacy as the sole representative of Spanish sovereignty", following the French invasion and occupation of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars and the abdication of the monarch Ferdinand VII and his father Charles IV. It met as one body, and its members represented the entire Spanish Empire, that is, not only Spain but also Spanish America and the Philippines.

The Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE; "Official State Gazette", from 1661 to 1936 known as the Gaceta de Madrid, "Madrid Gazette") is the official gazette of Spain and may be published on any day of the week. The content of the BOE is authorized and published by Royal Assent and with approval from the Spanish Presidency Office.

The BOE publishes decrees by the Cortes Generales, Spain's Parliament (comprising the Senate and the Congress of Deputies) as well as those orders enacted by the Spanish Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 provides in Article 9.3 that "The Constitution guarantees ... the publication of laws." This includes the official publishing of all Spanish judicial, royal and national governmental decrees, as well as any orders by the Council of Ministers.

King Juan Carlos I of Spain announced his pending abdication from the throne on 2 June 2014. An organic law permitting the abdication, required by the 1978 Constitution in its article 57.5, was drafted by the government and approved by the Cortes Generales, and was formally signed on 18 June during a ceremony in the Hall of Columns [es] of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The abdication became effective when it was published in the Official State Gazette at midnight on 19 June.

The Prince of Asturias, Felipe de Borbón y Grecia, succeeded the throne under the name Felipe VI on the abdication of his father. Juan Carlos retained the title of king emeritus with ceremonial functions entrusted to him by Felipe.

The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 (Catalan: Estatut d'Autonomia de Catalunya) provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia, the political institutions of the Catalan community, their powers and relations with the rest of Spain and the European Union, and the financing of the Government of Catalonia.

This Law was passed by Spanish Parliament on 19 July 2006 and approved by referendum of the citizens of Catalonia on 18 June 2006 and replaced the 1979 Statute of Sau. The new statute sought to achieve clarification of powers and their protection from encroachment by the State, increased executive, legislative and fiscal powers and the recognition of Catalan nationhood. Although turnout at the referendum was low at 49.4%, approval was given by 73.9% and came into effect 9 August 2006.

The Senate (Spanish: Senado) is the upper house of the Cortes Generales, which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. The presiding officer of the Senate is the president of the Senate, who is elected by the members at the first sitting after each national election.

The composition of the Senate is established in Part III of the Spanish Constitution. Each senator represents a province, an autonomous city or an autonomous community. Each mainland province, regardless of its population size, is equally represented by four senators; in the insular provinces, the larger islands are represented by three senators and the minor islands are represented by a single senator. Likewise, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla elect two senators each. This direct election results in the election of 208 senators by the citizens. In addition, the regional legislatures also designate their own representatives, one senator for each autonomous community and another for every million residents, resulting in a total of 58 additional senators.

The Real decreto (Spanish for "Royal decree"), in Spanish law, is a regulation issued by the Monarch on the advice of the prime minister or the Council of Ministers, adopted by virtue of its regulatory power. As such, it is hierarchically inferior to the law, although superior to other regulatory norms. The adjective "royal" refers to the fact that, although agreed by the Government, it is always signed by the Sovereign.

While the royal decree is the work of the executive branch, the law is the work of the legislative branch. For its part, the royal decree must be issued at the proposal of the prime minister or the full Government, while other types of regulations, such as the ministerial order, can be approved by a single-person body. Some royal decrees, such as the appointment of the prime minister or, in certain cases, the dissolution of Parliament, are issued at the proposal of the president of the Congress of Deputies.