This Monday, the National Court annulled the award in 2022 by the Ministry of the Interior of the silver medals to seven retired National Police officers, as well as 49 red crosses to active agents, all of them with a lifetime financial bonus. A decision that comes after this same judicial body already overturned the concession a year earlier. A blow to the Sánchez Executive who was quick to respond, through the head of this portfolio, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
Thus, in his usual line, the Minister of the Interior has assured that, although he will review the ruling of the National Court, he considers that the awarding of those medals was “reasonably motivated”so it does not rule out appealing the sentence that annulled the medals awarded to four former superior chiefs, a former commissioner general, a former head of the Internal Affairs Unit and a former head of Immigration in Madrid.
It should be noted that in this arduous path the demands presented by the different police unions (CEP, JUPOL, UPF and SUP), who did not hesitate to show their satisfaction with the decision of the High Court. Well, this Thursday Grande-Marlaska, who attended a conference co-organized by the European Commission and the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), once again challenged the agents, by making it clear that he did not accept the sentence willingly and was considering appealing it.
Marlaska has already appealed the salary equalization
And this procedure is part of the modus operandi of the head of the Interior. It is enough to remember that the Executive also appealed the ruling of the National Court, which forced him to renegotiate with unions and professional associations compliance with the salary equalization agreement signed in 2018. The surprise of the unions and associations that make up the Platform for a Dignified Retirement and Full Salary Equalization upon learning this information was capital and a total “disappointment.”
In July 2023, the National Court ordered the ministry led by Grande-Marlaska to begin a renegotiation to compliance with the third and eighth clauses of the salary equalization agreement. Specifically, it referred to the provision of a budget to encourage the creation of jobs for personnel in second activity and reserve, as well as processing an equal pay law that ends salary inequalities between police forces.
Cancellation of medals for police officers
In the case of the ruling that annuls the medals awarded to the seven retired police officers, the High Court understands that the 1964 law that regulates the decorations “delimits the granting of the silver medal to assessed and individualized cases.” In this way, it establishes that, based on the professional career of the commanders, “only the Police Merit Cross with a white badge would be awarded.” The difference between this decoration and the silver medal is that the latter entails a 15% increase in salary. Meanwhile, for the red crosses, the lifetime salary increase is 10%.
Likewise, the ruling determines that Article 28 of the Constitution has been violated by “completely dispensing with the established procedure by ignoring the intervention of the union organizations with the hearing procedure that the lawsuit itself has recognized for them.” In short, the magistrate agrees with the unions by considering it proven that the unions were not given the files in writing, in fact they were only informed verbally in a meeting that barely lasted half an hour.