The Council of Ministers has approved a preliminary draft of an Organic Law for the reform of Organic Law 13/1982, on the reintegration and improvement of the Foral Regime of Navarre, in order to reintegrate into the Foral Community of Navarre the full exercise of functions in the field of traffic, circulation of motor vehicles and road safety, for which it is necessary that it assumes the competence of monitoring and control of traffic within the territory of the Foral Community of Navarre.
Royal Decree 252/2023, on the transfer of functions and services from the State Administration to the Foral Community in the field of traffic and circulation of motor vehicles, approved the agreement adopted by the Transfer Board Administration of the State-Foral Community of Navarre.
Subsequently, Supreme Court judgments 281/2024 and 258/2024 annulled Royal Decree 252/2023 on transfer and its supplementary agreement. In summary, both judgments concluded that a royal decree of transfer could not be used to attribute a competence not recognized to Navarre in Organic Law 13/1982, of reintegration and improvement of the Foral Regime of Navarre (LORAFNA), nor protected in its historical law. It could assume it, either by reforming the LORAFNA, or by means of an organic law of transfer or delegation of article 150.2 of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court, by Orders of 27 February and 5 March 2024, pointed out that the invalidity of the aforementioned Royal Decree 252/2023 on the transfer of functions and services extends to the functions or services provided by the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard in Navarre.
Article 71 of LORAFNA also establishes that, given the legal nature of the foral regime, the improvement of the latter is unilaterally unmodifiable. Therefore, the reform initiative will correspond to the Provincial Council and the Government of the Nation.
Joint reform of LORAFNA
The Council of Ministers of March 19, 2024 approved the agreement by which the representatives of the Government of Spain were appointed for the negotiation of the reform initiative of LORAFNA, referring to the Presidency of the Government of Navarre: Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres; Secretary of State for Territorial Policy, Arcadi Spain; Secretary General of Territorial Coordination, Miryam Álvarez; Delegate of the Government in the Foral Community of Navarre, Andra Echeverría; and General Director of Local Cooperation, Autonomous Spain.
The final text was agreed by both administrations and was submitted to the Negotiating Committee for adoption on April 23. The Parliament of Navarre approved on May 23 the text of the reform proposal.
Finally, the Government of Navarre agreed to forward to the Government of Spain the agreement approved by the Parliament of Navarre so that, in turn, the draft organic law to reform the LORAFNA will be submitted to the Cortes Generales for approval.
Reform content
The present draft organic law consists of the assumption of the competence of surveillance and control of traffic within the territory of the Foral Community of Navarre. The single article contains two sections:
- Article 49, paragraph 3, of LORAFNA is amended to the effect that Navarre is responsible for traffic, the movement of motor vehicles and road safety, in accordance with its formal regulations and the provisions of this Organic Law, in addition to the powers and powers it has been exercising, for the enforcement of State legislation, and for the monitoring and control of traffic.
- The second paragraph is added to LORAFNA, providing that in the field of traffic, circulation of motor vehicles and road safety, the powers of the Foral Police shall be governed by the provisions of article 49.3 of LORAFNA.
Processing
Approved by the Parliament of Navarre the text of the proposal for the reform of LORAFNA on May 23, 2024, it is now appropriate to promote the processing of the preliminary draft organic law of reform and, after adopting it, the Council of Ministers, will be sent to the General Courts for approval.
The approval of the organic law of reform of LORAFNA will not produce economic or budgetary repercussions. For the full, progressive, appropriate and effective exercise by the Foral Community of Navarre of the competence to monitor and control traffic within its territory, the adoption by the Transfer Board of two agreements must be processed after its entry into force:
- An agreement to extend the functions of the State Administration transferred to the Autonomous Community of Navarre by Royal Decree 252/2023, in the field of traffic and circulation of motor vehicles, again assigning it the function of “detecting infringements”.
- An agreement complementary to the previous enlargement agreement, which regulates the final deployment of Foral Police officers for traffic surveillance and control, the processing and resolution of sanctioning files and the subsequent collection