Since landing in the position of senior lawyer and general secretary of Congress, Fernando Galindo has been highly questioned both by the opposition parties because has broken with the “independence” that its predecessors had (Galindo comes directly from the PSOE Government and has been used to smooth the processing of the amnesty) and by employees of the Lower House. In this sense, in recent weeks, according to some employees, Alerts have been raised about possible “perks” by Galindo to lawyers to gain sympathy and strengthen himself in office. It should be noted that, in addition to the lawyers, there are six other bodies of officials who are responsible for ensuring that the Congress of Deputies and the Senate function correctly.
There is an episode that illustrates these movements that the older lawyer makes: There has been a lawyer from the Cortes, a veteran and with weight, who has requested a series of economic benefits (through a supplement) that are not regulated in the Staff Statute of the Cortes Generales and Galindo is the one in charge of managing these types of issues. Initially, Galindo had introduced this request from the lawyer on the agenda to address it at the meeting this Tuesday that the Congress Board and the Senate Board will hold jointly. And, in fact, there are parliamentary sources that assure that Galindo's idea was to dismiss him.
However, as LA RAZÓN has learned, it has ended up withdrawing it, apparently at the request of the beneficiary himself. Besides, Galindo has requested a report from the legal advice of the Cortes so that it can rule on the fit of the request, although whoever holds the legal advice could also be a beneficiary of the complement due to his status., which would incur a cause of abstention. The remuneration of officials of the Courts is regulated between articles 30 and 32 of the Staff Statute and the supplement that the lawyer wishes to obtain is extra-statutory. In addition, agreements have also been adopted in meetings of joint Boards (Congress of Deputies and Senate) that have given rise to the creation of new remunerations for officials (such as free disposal and representation expenses).
The petition of the beneficiary lawyer was registered in the Cortes on December 20 and, since then, two and a half months later, a decision has still not been made on the matter. All this despite the fact that There has already been a report from the previous auditor of the Cortes (he resigned in January) that warns that to regulate these possible amounts an agreement must be adopted in the Congress and Senate Tables. (just as happened in 1984). Furthermore, this report indicates that it would apply to the “future” and would benefit deputy general secretaries and directors (that is, it would benefit several lawyers). The agreements must be voted on in the joint tables of the Congress and the Senate and all the members of the two Spanish legislative chambers are integrated there.
The truth is that this fact, according to some employees, is an example of how Galindo is managing parliamentary affairs. And that is causing a lot of discomfort not only among the body of lawyers, but also in other bodies of officials because they also end up being affected (in addition to lawyers, there are library archivists, faculty advisors, stenographers, administrative technicians, administrators and ushers).
If these complements are accepted, the economic benefit would be quite high (they can range from 1,000 to 2,000 euros depending on the position, as some sources point out) and that, in turn, would be detrimental to the public coffers, according to parliamentary voices.
Galindo had a difficult landing in the Cortes because it has had to play a complicated role with the amnesty and concessions that surround the independence movement and directly influence the development of parliamentary activity. In fact, Their movements, intended to please the PSOE, have generated unrest and division within the body of lawyers themselves.. A sign of this division is that, recently, he has received refusals from lawyers to assume some positions, such as those of the “lawfare” investigation commissions, which are very delicate because they have generated a great stir with the judicial community (the judges spoke unanimously against).
However, The image of greatest division within the body of lawyers occurred when the legal services of the Justice Commission contradicted a report on Galindo's amnesty.. The lawyers of the Justice Commission, with a devastating document, expressed their doubts about the constitutionality of the grace measure while Galindo, previously, had chosen to process the law without raising any objection about the constitutional fit. Galindo's position contrasted with that of his predecessor in office, who in 2021 had reported against the amnesty law that the pro-independence parties had tried to promote. Although it is true that the lawyers' positions are not binding, his reports have a lot of political impact and, in fact, are generally respected, so the value of the senior lawyer's position was decisive.