The Ministry of the Interior (MIR) is a department of the

Government of Spain The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the ...

responsible for

public security Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a state government to ensu ...

, the protection of the

constitutional rights A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...

, the command of the

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

, immigration affairs,

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

civil defense Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: Risk management, prevention, mitigation, prepara ...

and

road traffic safety Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures, such as traffic calming, to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, Driving, motorists, passengers of vehicles, and p ...

. Through the Undersecretariat of the Interior and its superior body, the Directorate-General for Internal Policy, the Ministry is responsible for all actions related to ensuring political pluralism and the proper functioning of electoral processes. The MIR is headed by the Minister for Home Affairs, who is appointed by the

Monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...

at request of the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. The Minister is assisted by three main officials, the Secretary of State for Security, the Secretary-General for Penitentiary Institutions and the Under-Secretary of the Interior. Among the director generals, the most important are the Director-General of the Police and the Director-General of the Civil Guard. This department has historically received numerous denominations such as Ministerio de la Gobernación (literally Ministry of the Governance), Ministerio de Orden Público (Ministry of Public Order) and Ministerio del Interior y Justicia (Ministry of the Interior and Justice) when both ministries joint in one. As of 2022, central, regional and local governments in Spain spend around

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

26 billion per year (1.9 % of

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

) on

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercion). Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems, or any other entity or ...

and

public order Public order may refer to * Public security: the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger or property damage * Public order policing: police maintenance of order ...

History

Early period

The responsibilities of the Ministry of the Interior in earlier centuries were assumed by the Royal Council of Castile (with the exception of the judicial ones). This body was composed of expert royal servants in charge of advising the

Sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

and with the passage of the time these royal servants gained more power and autonomy and were the real governors of the Kingdom. In the 18th century, the extinction of the

Habsburg dynasty The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

and the arrival of the

Bourbons The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. A branch descended from ...

brought profound institutional reforms. With King Philip V, this Council extended its jurisdiction to the territories of the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...

and the whole country was ruled by the same institutions. Also during this time, the Councils started to lose importance and the Secretariats of State and of the Dispatch were created. In 1621 the Secretariat of the Universal Dispatch was created, a unique government department where the sovereign delegated his power. With the new dynasty, it was necessary to divide it into several Secretariats of State that took care of the diverse administrative subjects: by means of the Decree of 11 July 1705, Philip V created a "Secretariat of State for War and Treasury" and another one for "Everything else". But the accumulation of business and the need for a more agile body led to a system similar to that of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

: the Decree of 30 November 1714, established four Secretariats of the Dispatch: of

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

, of

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, of the Navy and of the Indies, and of Ecclesiastical business, justice and jurisdiction, and questions of a financial nature were made to lie in the General Treasury. With slight variations, the result of various reforms, this situation continued until the 1754-1755 biennium. With regard to the Secretariat of the Dispatch of Ecclesiastical Affairs, Justice and Jurisdiction, by Decree of 2 April 1717, it was renamed the Secretariat of the Dispatch of Justice, Political Government and Treasury of Spain and the Indies. It was commissioned to José Rodrigo. In the reform of 1720, it was named the Secretariat of the Dispatch of Justice and Political Government of Spain and the Indies.

Late period

However, the direct antecedent is at the beginning of the 19th century, first created by Bonaparte in 1808 in imitation of the French model and a few years later, in 1812, the

Cortes of Cádiz The Cortes of Cádiz was a revival of the traditional ''Cortes Generales, cortes'' (Spanish parliament), which as an institution had not functioned for many years, but it met as a single body, rather than divided into estates as with previous o ...

created it the Secretariat of the Dispatch of the Governance of the Kingdom and Islands adjacent and the Secretary of the Dispatch of the Governance of the Kingdom for Overseas. The vast majority of authors do not consider the department created by the Napoleonic Government as the original one, because of its invasor nature. With the return of

Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...

, both secretaries were suppressed in 1814, restored during the Liberal Triennium and created as Ministry of the Interior in 1823, which lasted only a short time after being suppressed by King Ferdinand. In 1832 the Ministry of Development was created, which assumed security competences, fleeing from the denominations of "Interior" and "Governance" since they were reminiscent of the time of the war against

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. In 1835 it was again called "Ministry of the Interior". In 1847, all matters related to the services of public, economic and cultural works were disbanded from the Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry of the Interior maintained the functions of public order, municipal and provincial organization —being responsible for the Civil Governors—, health, post and telegraph, and the Overseas Office was incorporated. The so-called Sections were changed by Directorates-General, whose number was changing in the following decades. During the reign of

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

(1902-1931) the then created Institute of Social Reforms (1903), the Superior Charity Board (1908), the Internal Health Service (1909) were made dependent on the Ministry of the Interior; the Directorate-General for Security was divided into two sections, Surveillance and Security, and then called Public Order (1921); the Legal Department expanded its functions beyond the branch of charity (1913); the General Department of Charity (1919), the Health Department (1921), the Supply Department (1925) and the National Broadcasting Service (1929) were created. Already during the Second Republic, by decree of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of 16 August 1932, raised to the rank of Law on 8 September, the Directorate-General of the Civil Guard, which had been attached to the Ministry of War, and all the agencies and services of it dependents were transferred to the Ministry of the Interior, creating the Inspectorate-General of the Civil Guard. In 1933, the Health and Welfare services were transferred to the Ministry of Labor, Health and Welfare. In 1959 the Central Traffic Office was created by Law 47/1959, of 30 July; the Technical General Secretariat by Decree 1841/1960, of 21 September, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Legal System of the State Administration of 26 July 1957; and the Data Processing Center by Order of 16 November 1971.

Democracy

In 1977 it was renamed "Ministry of the Interior" and from then until now the Ministry has maintained this denomination, except for the period between 1994 and 1996, when it was renamed the Ministry of Justice and the Interior, structured in two main higher bodies, the Secretariat of State for Justice and the Secretariat of State for the Interior. During the democratic period, the Ministry of the Interior has focused its powers on public security, losing its functions on territorial organization in favor of the

Ministry for Territorial Administrations The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory (MPTMD), is the department of the Government of Spain that proposes and implements government policy with respect to the regions and manages the relationship of the government with the re ...

Structure

The Ministry of the Interior is organised in the following bodies: * The Secretariat of State for Security. ** The Directorate-General of the Police. ** The Directorate-General of the Civil Guard. ** The Directorate-General for International Relations and Immigration. **The Directorate-General for Coordination and Studies. * The General Secretariat for Penitentiary Institutions. ** The Directorate-General for Criminal Enforcement and Social Reintegration. *The Undersecretariat of the Interior ** The Technical General Secretariat. ** The Directorate-General for Internal Policy. ** The Directorate-General for Traffic. ** The Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Emergencies. ** The Directorate-General for Support to Victims of Terrorism. ** The Directorate-General for International Protection.

Agencies and companies

* The Civil Guard. * The

National Police Corps The National Police Corps (, CNP; ; also known simply as the National Police, ) is the national civilian police, police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing is generally the responsibil ...

. * The

Intelligence Center for Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime The Intelligence Center for Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime (, CITCO) is the Spanish domestic intelligence agency responsible for the prevention of terrorism, organized crime and other violent radical organizations by managing and analyz ...

. * The State Security Infrastructure and Equipment Office. * Penitentiary Work and Employment Training (public company).

List of ministers of the interior

The holders of the office of minister of the interior of Spain, from the reign of

to the present time: (1) Minister of Governance
(2) Minister of Public Order
(3) Minister of the Interior
(4) Minister of the Interior and Governance
(5) Minister of Justice and the Interior
(6) Minister of Governance of the Peninsula
(7) Between 1823 and 1835, neither a Ministry of the Interior nor Governance existed.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1812 establishments in Spain Spain, Interior Interior Interior

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Interior