The need to revitalize the Senate, to which the Constitution reserves the role of second legislative reading and chamber of territorial representation, is periodically expressed. It was proposed to link it to the conference of autonomous presidents, but its meetings have not been continued. The opening of the nineteen autonomous parliaments has multiplied Spanish parliamentary life, and has produced some of the episodes of greatest political tension: the Ibarretxe plan and the reform of the Statute of Catalonia. The difficult processing of appeals before the Constitutional Court and the difficulty of renewing its members have discredited this institution, which in practice functions as a "third chamber".
