Judges and prosecutors announce a three-day strike against justice reforms.

BarcelonaJudges 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.

The reforms announced by the Spanish government, which have sparked protests by these professional associations, aim to modify the system of access to the judicial career, according to the executive to make it less elitist, In addition to the Statute of the Public Prosecutor's Office. However, for the protesting associations, these reforms pose a "threat" to judicial independence and would increase the politicization of the Prosecutor's Office and give greater power to the Attorney General.

In the same statement announcing the strike, the organizers warn that they will go ahead if the Spanish government does not withdraw these reform projects. The five associations calling for the strike are the Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM), the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association (AJFV), the Independent Judicial Forum (FJI), the Association of Prosecutors (AF), and the Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors (APIF). They have also warned that, depending on the response to the strike, they will assess whether it is necessary to extend the protest.

Bolaños: The reasons are "debatable"

Following the strike announcement, the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, defended the executive's proposal as "expanding and strengthening the judicial career and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary." "Utmost respect for the strike called, however questionable the reasons," he said in a message to X, in which he indicated that there is "a parliamentary majority in favor of modernizing the justice system." "Tomorrow there will be a consensus," he added.

Similarly, sources from the Ministry of Justice place the debate between "reforms or inaction," and have advanced that the reforms will continue their processing with the support of "the parliamentary majority and the majority of society." The same sources assess that all the justice reforms have aroused "fears or reluctance, especially in a sector where inaction is the norm," although they anticipate that they will end up being consensus measures.

The ministry also defends these reforms as "modernizing the justice system to make it more efficient, agile, and closer to citizens, and strengthening its independence and excellence." Among other things, it asserts that they will expand the number of judges and prosecutors by 500 new positions over three years, in addition to legally establishing a scholarship system for candidates and being able to "put an end to the precariousness of substitute judges and prosecutors."