ABSTRACT

The formal existence of a legislative competence should not be taken at face value. Both Austria and Germany, for example, despite having the authority to enact legislation, have very limited fields in which to exercise their competence. The constitution grants the vast majority of legislative authority to the federal level, with few areas of legislation remaining at the regional tier. The formal legislative authority ascribed to the Portuguese islands under Art 227(1) of the Portuguese Constitution also hides a more complex reality. In practice, the Portuguese Constitutional Court has consistently applied Art 6(1) of the Portuguese Constitution, which describes the Portuguese state as ‘unitary’, to deny regional legislative autonomy (author’s interviews). A similar situation is observed in Italy, where the court’s interpretation of the organic statutes of the special regions led to their primary legislative powers requiring further approval by national legislation. In practice this converted their primary legislative powers into secondary legislative powers. In many cases, the special regions are still waiting for such transfers.