Spain

Most of the Autonomous Communities in Spain have laws regarding citizen participation, implementation of mechanism of citizen participation, deliberative processes, participatory democracy, direct democracy, the involvement of women and men, active participation of the citizens, and social inclusion of them into the political sphere. Here below, will be named some of the laws/bylaws/decrees/regulations addressing these issues.
Nevertheless, before that, it is important to point out that the Spanish Constitution (1978) in its article 9.2 mentions that it’s responsibility of administration to facilitate the participation of all citizens in the political, economic, cultural and social life.
Also, in the article 6, it is stated that the participation should be understood as a complement of the representation system and
to the task that the political parties performed and should be
addressed to stakeholders.

​On that note on this general background, it will be enlisted some
more specific regulations:

2008 Law 11/2008 of 3rd of July of 2008 of the Generalitat of Citizen Participation of the Valencian Community. Currently avoided (valid from 1/January/2010 until 9/April/2015). Text in forced. Law 2/2015 of 2nd of April, of Transparency, Good Government and Citizen Participation of the Valencian Community.

2010 Foral norm 1/2010, of the 8th of July regarding Citizen Participation; Law 5/2010 of 21 of June, Canaria for the
promotion of Citizen Participation.
​
2014 Law 7/2016 of the 18th of May from the reform law 12/2014
of 16th of December about Transparency, Citizen Participation of
the Autonomous Region of Murcia; White Book of Democracy
and Citizen Participation for Euskadi.

2015 Law 8/2015 of 25th of March of Transparency of the Public Activity and Citizen Participation of Aragon; Law 3/2015 of 4th of March of Transparency and Citizen Participation of Castilla y León; Law 2/2015 of 2nd of April of Transparency,
Good Government and Citizen Participation of the Valencian Community; Law 7/2015 of 7th of August of popular legislative
initiative and citizen participation in the Galician Parliament.

2016 10-16/PL-000005, Law project of Citizen Participation of Andalucia; Law project of Open Government, Citizen Participation and Transparency in the Community of Madrid; Law 2/2016 of 7th of April of Local Institutions of Euskadi

2017 White Book of Citizen Participation of the Principality of Asturias; Draft Law on Citizen Participation of Castilla - La Macha; Foral Norm 1/2017 of 8th of February of Transparency, Citizen Participation and Good Government of the Public Sector in the Historic Territory of Alava; Law 10/2017 of 11 of May of the Generalitat approved in 2017 “in
which it is regulated the popular legislative initiative of Les Corts that eradicate the law 5/1993”; Law project of Open Government, Participation and Transparency of 2017 in the Community of Madrid.

On the other hand, some municipalities have guidelines to regulate the Participatory Budgeting processes such as autonomous community of Andalucía.
The Law of 7/2007 concerning citizen participation in Andalucía in its article 24 mention that local authorities can implement citizen participation mechanisms such as Participatory Budgeting to prioritize aspects of their budget.
In addition, the same article indicates that the “The Regional Government of Andalucía will encourage the promotion and diffusion of PB processes based on the principles of universality and self-regulation” and “will collaborate in the development and promotion of Participatory Budgeting executed by local entities, through positive actions, information, training and awareness-raising”.

The main innovation regarding Participatory Budgeting in the most recent period is the use of digital tools, since they are already being implemented in almost all processes for the presentation of proposals and the voting phase (decision-making).

Andalucía, an autonomous community in Spain was the first one to implement Participatory Budgeting experiences. The processes previous the local elections of 2015 were based on motor groups, deliberation and citizens self-regulation.
Nowadays, the most common model of PB is the use of online platforms, inspired by the Madrid case. It is important to point out that the majority of PBs that were active in the last period do not have an historical trajectory but began their journey after the 2015 municipal elections. The beginning and end of PB in Spanish municipalities still depends predominantly on the shifting of political parties in the administration. It can also be noticed other important tendencies in the last years:

a. The reduction of citizen deliberation in the process;

b. Lack of information about the municipal PB;

c. Lack of transparency and accountability regarding the experiences;

d. Ephemeral initiatives.​