The majority of the associations of judges have agreed on the evils that surround our Rule of Law in the meetings held yesterday with the European Commission. Firstly, the deterioration of our democratic system, but also that the way of choosing the members of the Judiciary and the terrible consequences of the political attacks on the union remain, with no signs of change.
The main association of the judiciary informed the community representatives that our judicial system has not experienced structural improvements in its independence as a power of the State and that “institutional counterweights” are still not implemented, nor is there sufficient “provision of means.”
The Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM) reminded the Commission that the Brussels recommendation regarding the need to reform the election system of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) continues to be failed to comply with, despite the fact that the composition of the governing body of the judiciary was renewed.
There were also references from the association chaired by Judge María Jesús del Barco to the “concern” about the reforms announced by the Ministry of Justice that aim to change access to the judicial and prosecutorial careers. In his warning message he stressed that “they shift control of the selection processes to the Executive branch.”
Regarding the new trial courts (which replace the traditional investigative courts), the APM refers to “serious organizational dysfunctions derived from a reorganization without proportional investment in judges, infrastructure and technology.”
And finally, in the group of negative aspects that affect the Rule of Law, they include “concern” over “certain political statements that generically delegitimize judges and courts; that there persists a “lack of real progress in the autonomy of the Public Prosecutor’s Office” and the “need to preserve a clear delimitation between ordinary and constitutional jurisdiction”, which they see increasingly blurred.
The second association by number of members, from a broad perspective, warned about the risk of political interference entailed by certain recently implemented legislative and organizational initiatives. Among the concerns pointed out by the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association (AJFV), are the new judicial organization, its impact on the relationship between the judge and the judicial office, the possible modification of the financing regime of professional groups, the proposals aimed at limiting popular prosecution and the reform of criminal investigation to hand it over to prosecutors, without previously reinforcing their autonomy from the leadership.
The fourth association, Independent Judicial Forum (FJI), mentioned that the Government is failing to comply with the agreement reached in 2023 regarding remuneration and pointed out that it is a pending task to update remuneration aspects such as guards and destination complements, among others. “We have also demanded that the Commission be more demanding in terms of limiting revolving doors,” he tells this newspaper.
For its part, the only progressive group, Judges for Democracy (JJpD), chose to denounce to the European Union the “attempt to delegitimize” the Constitutional Court, “by those who promote a smear campaign” against the institution. This is committed to a judicial election of candidates to the CGPJ that Parliament will later designate.