In recent years, advanced democratic societies have reoriented their political action and institutional design from bureaucratic knowledge and decision-making structures toward a more holistic and flexible approach focused on participation, open information, and the co-production of knowledge and services.

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 guarantees in its articles 23 and 105.b the right of citizens to participate in public affairs. A significant body of legislation and case law has given substance to and developed this right. The European Union has, at various times, adopted directives, such as Directives 2003/4/EC and 2003/35/EC, of sectoral scope, which have been transposed into Spanish law by Law 27/2006, of July 18, regulating the rights of access to information, public participation, and access to justice in environmental matters.

The Statute of Autonomy of the Valencian Community, in its Article 9.4, also considers citizen participation in public affairs to be one of the basic pillars upon which advanced democracy and self-government develop and take shape. This right was subsequently developed by Law 2/2015, of April 2, on transparency, good governance, and citizen participation in the Valencian Community, and, more recently, by Law 4/2023, of April 13, of the Generalitat, on Citizen Participation and the Promotion of Associations in the Valencian Community.

In short, the current legal framework recognizes citizen participation as a fundamental right.

Typically, so-called participatory budgets are simply a form of citizen participation in the development of the municipal budget. They are based on a more democratic form of management in municipalities. Since municipalities are the territorial organization of the State closest to citizens, they are the most conducive to the implementation of this type of democratic consultation.

In this sense, the Organic Regulations of the Participatory Budgets of the Torrevieja City Council , approved by Plenary Agreement dated 04-08-2022, is the tool through which the City Council makes it possible to establish the process of citizen participation in the management of Participatory Budgets, as well as its operating rules.

The municipality of Torrevieja itself has imposed the obligation to carry out this consultation through a regulatory norm in the public life of the City Council. It should be recalled that Article 1.1 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime (LRBRL), defines municipalities as basic entities of the territorial organization of the State and immediate channels of citizen participation in public affairs, which institutionalize and autonomously manage the interests of the corresponding communities. Article 4 of the LRBRL attributes to the municipality the power to regulate and self-organize. Article 128.1 of the LPACAP also establishes that the exercise of regulatory power corresponds (in addition to the National Government and the governing bodies of the Autonomous Communities), to the local government bodies, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the Statutes of Autonomy, and the LRBRL.

The Participatory Budgeting process provides for the establishment of a Steering Group. If you wish to become a member, you must submit your application between July 7 and 15, 2025, through a general application submitted to the City Council's General Registry and addressed to the Department of Citizen Participation .

The Motor Group is a group made up of residents of Torrevieja who voluntarily collaborate in the development of the Participatory Budget, motivating and engaging citizens to participate in the process, as well as collaborating in its information and dissemination.

Subsequently, at a Citizens' Assembly to be held on July 23, 2025, in the City Hall's Plenary Hall, its members will be elected in order of priority according to the number of votes received by each candidate, by a show of hands.