15% of judge and magistrate positions in Catalonia are vacant. Of the 871 positions, 132 are unassigned, in addition to other circumstances such as medical leave or permits. Therefore, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has requested this Wednesday that the Ministry of Justice and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) urgently convene extraordinary competitive examinations, beyond the average of 120 annual positions typically offered for the entire State. Given the political announcements to create more judicial positions –91 for Catalonia this year– the president of the TSJC, Mercè Caso, has demanded that what is needed is more judges to fill these posts: "Otherwise, we will have chairs, but not enough judges to fill them".

On September 24, in a context marked by paralysis, the plenary session of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) reached a significant agreement without publicity: the approval of a salary increase for its members. The decision, which was processed at the proposal of the economic affairs commission, has generated controversy due to the contrast between the speed regarding their own remuneration and the inaction in other areas of justice.

A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Justice announced a "historic" expansion of the judges' staff to be created this year 500 new places across the country, 91 of which are in CataloniaHowever, the distribution of these new positions remained to be determined. The Spanish government's initial proposal failed to gain traction with either the Catalan Ministry of Justice or the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), which have now submitted identical amendments. "We anticipate that these proposals will be considered by the Ministry," stated the Catalan Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler. With these 91 new judicial units, Catalonia will increase from 871 to 962. Most will be new positions in ordinary courts, but the number of judges in the provincial courts will also be increased. Lleida and Tarragona will each gain one more judge, Girona two, and Barcelona fourteen—six for the criminal divisions and eight for the civil divisions. A new judgeship will also be created for the TSJC.

The Madrid Provincial Court has requested the reopening of the case concerning the leak of photos of the ID cards of 33 pro-independence Catalan judges, which were published in the newspaper The reason In March 2014, after the judges signed a manifesto in favor of the right to self-determination. Specifically, the court has ordered the reopening of the case in the 15th Investigating Section of the Madrid Court of First Instance, as has been reported. The World and has been confirmed by ACN. The complaint filed by the judges was dismissed in 2015, but following the publication of some audio recordings in The World In which they pointed to the patriotic police as being aware of the leak, the judges requested that the case be reopened, and now the Madrid Provincial Court has ruled in their favor.

The Council of Ministers will approve this Tuesday one of the largest reforms in recent years. According to Spanish government sources confirmed to Efe on Monday, the executive branch will definitively approve a bill that includes changes to the State Attorney General's Office to depoliticize it. The reform also incorporates modifications to the Criminal Procedure Law, the main new feature of which is the position of the investigating prosecutor. The proposal seeks to establish that the direction of criminal investigations will be in the hands of prosecutors rather than judges, as has been the case until now.

We all know that politics is a struggle for power and is governed by the principle "I'll take you out so I can put myself in." But democracies seemed destined to be a ritual with rules of respect for one's adversary and responsibility to the citizenry to limit the delusions of the will to power. Given the spectacle that politics offers us day after day, which in Spain has reached delirious levels in the single-issue offensive by the People's Party (PP) against the Socialist government, in which the debate is not about proposals and ideas but simply about accusations with which to disqualify the adversary—that is, without any distinction between truth and gamesmanship, and therefore without the democratic framework—it becomes alarming.

Some constitutional patriots pretend to be scandalized because, they say, the King of Spain, as head of state, should not sit next to an attorney general accused in a judicial proceeding, as will happen this Friday at the opening ceremony of the judicial year in Spain. These patriots can relax, because in fact, the King himself doesn't seem to care as much as they do about the company with which he sits and takes photos. This very week, he was photographed, or rather, with Eduardo Inda, one of the most shameful figures in Spanish public life, and this is a highly contested league.

More and more cases are arriving at the Catalan courts, and although they are also resolving more, the incoming workload exceeds what they can handle. For example, despite the fact that many more cases were resolved in 2024 than in previous years and the courts closed 96.78% of the cases they received, the year ended with more pending proceedings than there were in January. At the end of the year, there were still 732,408 pending cases. To resolve this situation, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) estimates that Catalonia needs an additional 187 judge positions (154) and magistrate positions (33) to optimally cover the workload facing the country's courts.

The courts have begun a three-day strike of judges and prosecutors called by all professional associations except the progressive ones, with the strike being followed by 75% of judges and prosecutors this Tuesday. Beyond the estimate made by the organizers, who have described the protest as a "resounding success," there is no official data because the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) is not collecting it, as it does not recognize the call. The Ministry of Justice has also not received the monitoring data it had requested from the CGPJ and the State Attorney General's Office, and points out that the figures provided by the associations are not official. Furthermore, it notes that during the day "there has been almost complete normality in the courts and prosecutors' offices" throughout Spain.

The plenary session of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has unanimously decided not to recognize the strike called by judges and prosecutors announced by five associations—all except the progressive ones—for next week. Thursday's agreement warns the organizers that the strike has no "legislative support" because the right to strike is not regulated for judges. Therefore, it concludes that "it is not appropriate to announce it," and recalls that it had already issued similar statements regarding the strikes called in 2009, 2012, and 2013. The organizing associations have criticized the decision and have already announced that they will continue the strike, which they consider "a legitimate, proportionate, and responsible measure."

Judges and prosecutors continue their fight against the judicial reforms that the Spanish government intends to impose. After last week's ten-minute strike, associations of judges and prosecutors have announced three days of strikes on July 1, 2, and 3. They have also called for a rally in front of the Supreme Court for Saturday, June 28, at 12:30 p.m. The five associations calling for the protest are the same ones that called the previous strike: most of them are groups of judges and prosecutors, but none of the progressive ones.

Most judges' and prosecutors' associations, none of the progressive ones, have called for a protest this Wednesday against the Spanish government's plans to modify access to the judiciary and the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor's Office. The five associations signing the call call for a 10-minute strike, starting at 12 noon, outside all judicial buildings in the country. The manifesto read by the organizers outside the court buildings warned the Spanish government: "We do not rule out a strike." Meanwhile, coinciding with the strike, Isabel Perelló, president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), warned that "judges cannot be degraded."

Melanie Barba finished second in her class to qualify for the public prosecutor exam and in a few weeks will begin her internship in Madrid, where she is completing her training. Early next year, she will be a public prosecutor and will return to Catalonia to practice. Judge Isabel Olmos, born in Barcelona, ​​issued her first ruling in a court in Sant Boi de Llobregat and has been serving in the Fourth Chamber of the Supreme Court for about two months. Both have in common that they prepared for the exam with the help of a scholarship from the Generalitat (Catalan government), which, after more than a decade, The inactive exams resumed in 2022. This Tuesday, the call opens again for those who want to prepare to become a judge, prosecutor, or legal representative in the administration of justice.

Salt Justice of the Peace, Francesca Terrón, usually performs about eight weddings a month, but this week alone she's already done six. "We've been performing weddings left and right for the past two weeks," she said in a conversation with ARA the day before the law that will take away their authority to register civil unions comes into effect. An error in the processing of the law of judicial efficiency The law has left justices of the peace without the power to register marriages, and sources from the Ministry of Justice state that they are already "looking for the best way to ensure this authority as soon as possible."

Judges and prosecutors unanimously condemned the First Vice President of the Spanish government, María Jesús Montero. In a statement on Monday, all the relevant associations condemned the PSOE minister. He called the verdict that acquitted Dani Alves a "shame" of sexual assault and criticized the fact that the footballer's presumption of innocence is "above" the victim's witness. "It is essential that institutions and public representatives respect and support the work of judges and magistrates, and avoid comments that could undermine confidence in our judicial system," the group of judges and prosecutors responded. This Tuesday, the General Council of the Judiciary joined in, warning politicians that they must "balance their legitimate right to criticism with preserving citizens' trust in institutions."

A common criticism of the judicial system is that it still operates "like in the 19th century." But now that could begin to change: throughout 2025, a law will be rolled out that aims to modernize the justice system and make it more efficient. The efficiency law will change how the courts are organized—even their names—and will introduce new measures designed to improve the protection of children and victims of sexual crimes. The new system will be implemented gradually in three phases—in June, October, and December—affecting smaller municipalities first and then larger cities.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered Spain to pay €4,200 in compensation for "moral damages" to each of the Catalan judges who had appealed to the Strasbourg court after their case was dismissed in the State. The personal data and ID cards of the 33 Catalan judges who had signed a manifesto in favour of an independence referendum were leaked to the conservative daily La Razón in February 2014, a few months before the the 9 November vote on independence. The newspaper published an extensive article with the magistrates' names and ID photos.

It is no secret that in Catalonia there is no tradition of taking competitive examinations for State bodies as there is in other territories, and this causes an under-representation of Catalans in groups that end up being decisive, such as judges or state attorneys. Thus, of the 188 judges who graduated from Barcelona Judicial School, only 11 are Catalan. This means Catalonia is also the place where there are most vacancies every year (80 our of 195 this year), which are usually taken by the last to choose, since the best usually choose postings closer to home. The exception was in 2018, when the best result was obtained by Catalan judge Marta Nadal, who chose the court of Mollet.