Ministry of Territorial Policy

The Ministry of Territorial Policy (MPT), is the department of the Government of Spain which manages the policies of the government regarding relations and cooperation with the Autonomous Communities and with the entities that integrate the Local Administration and those related to the territorial organization of the country and with the Government Delegations and Sub-Delegations in the regions and provinces.[2]

Ministry of Territorial Policy
Ministerio de Política Territorial

Palace of Villamejor, headquarters of the Ministry
Agency overview
FormedApril 5, 1979 (1979-04-05)
(as Ministry for Territorial Administration)
June 7, 2018 (as Ministry of Territorial Policy and Civil Service)
Preceding agencies
TypeMinistry
JurisdictionGovernment of Spain
HeadquartersPalace of Villamejor, Madrid
Annual budget€ 590 million, 2023[1]
Minister responsible
Agency executives
Child agencies
  • Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies
  • National Institute of Public Administration
Websitewww.mptfp.gob.es(in Spanish)

The MPTFP is also in charge of the proposal and carrying out the government policy in matters of civil service, public employment and training of public employees; of governance and organization of the General State Administration; of procedures and inspection of services; of transparency and open government; of the development and monitoring of programs to improve public management and the quality of services.

Likewise, it is responsible for the Digital Administration policy, as well as the coordination of the process of rationalization of information and communication technologies in the field of the General State Administration and its public agencies, and the promotion of e-Government. through the shared provision of the Common Service of Information and Communication Systems; It is also responsible for establishing the necessary provisions and guidelines for its operation.[2]

History

This Ministry was created for the first time in 1979 after the approval of the Constitution of 1978 in order to adapt the centralized administration to the new decentralized territorial administration. At the beginning, it assumed the relations with the already formed regions, the regions in process of formation and the local administration.[3]

Previously, between 1977 and 1979 there was the figure of the Assistant Ministry of the Regions which, led by Manuel Clavero, developed the pre-autonomy agreements of the various regions and nationalities of Spain.[4]

Initially it was endowed with a small structure, composed of a Undersecretariat, a Technical General Secretariat and two Directorates-General: Cooperation with Autonomous Regimes and Local Cooperation, this last transferred from the Ministry of the Interior.[5]

In the words of Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez before the Congress of Deputies on 18 April 1979:

The Deputy Minister for the Regions has been removed in order to create from the Ministry of the Interior a new Ministry for Territorial Administration of the State that has clear and specific competences, completely absent from any other relationship with matters of public order in the relations with the City Councils, in the relations with the Provincial Councils and in the relations with the Autonomous Communities, from the perspective of the constitutional mandate of the autonomies that correspond to each one of these

— Adolfo Suárez, 18 April 1979

One year later, and with the aim of strengthening the administrative structures that facilitated the process of devolution to the Autonomous Communities, the Secretary of State for the Autonomous Communities, the Secretary of State for Local Corporations and the Directorate-General for Autonomic Development were created.

After the arrival of the Socialist Workers' Party to the Government, in 1983 the Ministry was again the object of remodeling. The Secretary of State for Local Corporations disappeared and four Directorates-General were established: Autonomic Development; Cooperation with the Autonomous Communities; Local Management; and Local Cooperation.

The great reshuffle takes place, nevertheless, in 1986, when the department is renamed «for the Public Administrations» and receives powers on Civil Service and Administrative Modernization that until that moment exerted the Ministry of the Presidency.[6]

A new extension of powers took place in 1997, as a consequence of the approval of the Law 6/1997, of April 14, of Organization and Functioning of the General State Administration, which organically assigns to it the Government Delegations (until then dependents from Interior).

These three areas of activity (Relationship with Autonomous and Local Administrations, Civil Service, and coordination of the Government Delegations) have remained as the competence axis of the department, except for the period 2009–2010, in which the last two passed temporarily to the Ministry of the Presidency. These three areas of work (Relations with Autonomous and Local Administrations, Civil Service, and coordination of the Government Delegations) have remained as the responsibilities axis of the department, except for the period 2009–2010, in which the last two passed temporarily to the Ministry of the Presidency.

Since December 22, 2011, the powers of this department were integrated into the Ministry of the Treasury, which was renamed the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Administration. All its functions were assigned to the Secretary of State for Public Administrations. In 2016, the functions of relations with the regions and local administrations were transferred to the Presidency Ministry and it wasn't until 2018 that this Ministry was recovered assuming all of its historic responsibilities.[2]

Organization chart
Antonio Fontán, first Minister for Territorial Administration.

The current structure of the Ministry is:[7]

  • Secretariat of State for Territorial Policy
    • General Secretariat for Territorial Coordination
      • Directorate-General for Regional and Local Cooperation
      • Directorate-General for Regional and Local Legal Regime
      • Directorate-General for the General State Administration in the Territory
  • Undersecretariat of Territorial Policy
    • Technical General Secretariat

List of ministers
Isabel Rodríguez, current Minister for Territorial Policy.

References
  1. "2023 State Budget" (PDF). www.boe.es. 1 January 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  2. "Royal Decree 863/2018, of July 13, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Function is developed". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-20.
  3. "Royal Decree 999/1979, of April 27, on the organization of the Ministry of Territorial Administration". www.boe.es. Retrieved 2019-04-20.
  4. Rodríguez, Chema (14 June 2021). "Manuel Clavero, 'café para todos' y coherencia política y vital". El Mundo.
  5. "La reducción de las competencias de Justicia y Educación preocupa a los democristianos de UCD". El País (in Spanish). 1979-04-07. ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-04-20.
  6. "González limita al mínimo los cambios en su Gobierno". El País (in Spanish). 1986-07-26. ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-04-20.
  7. "Royal Decree 139/2020, of January 28, which establishes the basic organic structure of the ministerial departments". boe.es. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
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