Catalonia will have 91 new judge positions this year: this is how the judicial map looks

BarcelonaA 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.

This expansion will be accompanied by 300 new civil servant positions76 for procedural and administrative management and 224 for processing. With the traditional organization of the courts there was a fixed number of officials for each judge, but since the organizational reform implemented by the efficiency law There is no exact figure and experience will ultimately clarify how much staff is needed in each court.

The Department of Justice assures that the criterion for prioritizing the allocation of these new judicial positions has been to reinforce those courts with excessive workloads and a backlog of cases they have been unable to handle due to overload. They also point out that they have sought territorial balance. With this increase, Catalonia will reach 11.6 judges per 100,000 inhabitants – up from 10.7 – and the national rate, currently 11.7, will rise to 12.5. This should increase the courts' capacity to resolve cases: while last year they were able to handle 1,268,413 cases, the government estimates that this year that number will increase by 10%, exceeding 1.4 million. Courthouse renovations

However, most courts will require renovations to accommodate these 91 new judges and 300 new staff members. In other cases, only a redistribution of space will be necessary. The Ministry of Justice is still studying the cost of these actions to decide how they will be carried out. In the ordinary courts, those receiving the most new positions are in Barcelona. This year, seven civil judges, one commercial judge, three labor judges, four criminal judges, and two enforcement judges will join the Catalan capital. But most of the judicial districts that will increase their staff are so small that they do not have separate jurisdictions, but rather operate with a single civil and investigative section. This expansion will mean that the courts that reach ten positions will be divided into two specialized sections. This is the case of Arenys de Mar, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Figueres, Gavà, Manresa, Rubí, Vilanova y la Geltrú and El Vendrell.