The first of the speakers was Mario Garcés Sanagustín, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, who, after having briefly outlined the historic progress of the public sector in our country, described the most important aspects of the reform made to Act 40/2015. Garcés reviewed the new regulation of all the entities forming part of the public sector, highlighting the new regulation’s removal of state agencies.
The Deputy Secretary affirmed that the profound reform of the public sector carried out in the last few years has achieved the fundamental objective of eliminating duplications. However, he pointed out that, although it is true that there has been an excess of public entities in Spain, we should not forget that many of them provide obligatory services. Likewise, he signalled that one of the keys to the future will be to carry out improvements to the regulation of public employment.
After this presentation, Rafael Díaz Yeregui, Public Law associate at Pérez-Llorca, took the floor. Diaz spoke about the wide range of regulations in existence before the enactment of Act 40/2015, and the way in which this new Act comprises all the different classifications of public entities in order to reorganise the system. He also confirmed that the new Public Sector Legal regime revolves around the financial-economic control of public entities and bodies, demonstrating that there has been a growing realisation of the need to streamline the Public Sector.
Díaz also highlighted the new regime for consortiums, the introduction of a regime for the transformation and merger of public bodies and the inclusion in the public sector of foundations and funds without independent legal status.
Following on from this, Marina Serrano, State Advocate on leave of absence and Of Counsel of the Public Law department at Pérez-Llorca, spoke about the new regulation of collegiate bodies. Serrano underlined the importance of the role of the Secretary to the collegiate body, given that, on many occasions, the success of the transactions carried out depends on their diligence. Serrano then continued to detail the innovations that Act 40/2015 includes, which involve, fundamentally, introducing electronic means in the running of these collegiate bodies when taking decisions.
Following on from Serrano, Jaime de Blas, Competition and EU law associate at Pérez-Llorca, went on to outline the regulation on collaboration agreements, which includes important developments. He pointed out that the legislator has followed the indications, which he believes to be correct, that the Court of Auditors raised in its Opinion 878, of 30 November 2010.
De Blas set out, among other matters, the classification of agreements, the rules on their length, effects and termination, as well as the tax mechanisms set forth in Act 40/2015.
The Study Seminar concluded with a presentation by Juan Rodríguez Cárcamo, State Advocate on leave of absence and Partner of the Public Law Department at Pérez-Llorca, who outlined the Asset Liability regime of the Administration established in Act 40/ 2015.
Following the presentation of each of the developments included in the asset liability procedure, Cárcamo paid special attention to the changes included in the regulation on the asset liability of the State Legislator due to damages arising from laws declared unconstitutional or contrary to European Union Law.