Two months without weddings in the justice of the peace courts: "The solution is political will."

BarcelonaThis Tuesday will mark two months since the justices of the peace have been unable to perform weddings, and they don't know when they will be able to do so again, despite the administration's early promise that it would restore this power to them as soon as possible. "It's in the hands of those with the tools to solve it; the solution is political will," says the justice of the peace of Salt and president of the Catalan Association for Justice.

The 898 justices of the peace in Catalonia They have not been able to perform weddings since April 3 due to an error in the processing of the judicial efficiency law., which did not include this competition. Already then, sources from the Ministry of Justice stated that they were working to to look for "the best formula" to fix it "as soon as possible." Eight weeks later, the ministry's response remains the same and emphasizes its desire to restore the authority of justices of the peace to perform weddings, but does not clarify how or when this will happen.

Aware that they would not be able to get married starting in April, many justices of the peace took advantage of March to bring forward the appointments they had scheduled for the coming weeks. Now, however, the options for couples who had planned a civil marriage in the justice of the peace—where getting married is free—are in notaries' offices—where the corresponding fees must be paid—or in town halls, which in many cases also charge a fee for the use of the facilities.

"Many people want to get married as soon as possible, and that means double or triple the workload at the town halls. There is a waiting list, and that causes discomfort," says Terrón about the effects of the changes in plans that people who planned to get married in a justice of the peace have had to make. Neither the municipalities nor the Notarial Association have yet calculated how many additional marriages have been performed during these two months with the magistrates' courts out of action, but both the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM) and the Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia (FMC) say they have noticed the effect. The impact depends greatly on the size of the municipality.

"No one has been left in the lurch"

Melchor Claramunt is the president of the Justice Department of the FMC (Federal Municipality of Murcia) and the mayor of Miralcamp (Pla d'Urgell), a town of about 1,400 inhabitants, where the council usually performs about two weddings a month, which this April and May have been double that number. "We haven't noticed it as much here. If you have another wedding, you reschedule it for the weekend and that's it; no one has been left in the lurch, but in larger municipalities, with 10,000 or 20,000 inhabitants, there is more pressure," says Claramunt.

In El Masnou (Maresme), with about 24,500 inhabitants, they have also been able to meet the demand for last-minute weddings, in this case holding them at the courthouse, even if the mayor or a councilor officiates. Here, the council usually performs between five and six weddings a month, and the justice of the peace about two or three. Now, everyone is in the care of the mayor or a councilor, explains the mayor of El Masnou, Jaume Oliveras, who is also first vice president of the ACM: "It's obviously an increase in work, and it's also peak wedding season. We're taking it as normal, but I hope it can be resolved as soon as possible; it's an anomaly."

In the notary offices, there has also been "more movement, but it hasn't been problematic," says Raquel Iglesias, vice dean of the Notarial Association of Catalonia. In the case of notaries, they have had to modify the marriage records of couples who had appointed a justice of the peace so that another authority could marry them. "It's a simple procedure; most people have been able to keep their planned wedding date. The disappointment may have arisen if someone wanted to be married by a specific person because they have some connection to that person," says Iglesias.