Autonomous consultative bodies and local government

Prior to taking a number of especially important decisions, both the government and the public administrations need the expert legal advice of an independent consultative body (the Council of State or its autonomous counterparts). Since in most cases that legal opinion is not mandatory, the executive body may not follow it. However, the government or the public administration must set out the reasons of its dissent, which might amount to a legal discredit. The functions of the autonomous consultative bodies concerning local government are the topic of this work. A first approach will lead us to deal briefly with the origin, essence and meaning of the autonomous consultative bodies. Fifteen autonomous consultative bodies have been created so far. A quick glimpse at their powers leads to the conclusion that local bodies need their legal advice in this matters: conflicts of jurisdiction before the Constitutional Court against acts that allegedly violate local autonomy (the advice must be sought within three months after the publication of the act); damage claims against local bodies (in a number of cases, the advice is mandatory only if the claim reaches a certain amount); self-revision of local decisions (to attain it, the consultative body must agree); interpretation, modification, termination and nullification of contracts agreed to by local bodies (either when the contractor disagrees or the modified amount is higher than the previous one plus a twenty percent); city planning modifications concerning green areas; segregation of municipalities; extraordinary appeal (consultative bodies must preserve the strict interpretation of the grounds on which the appeal is taken into consideration).