King Felipe VI has called to “respect and preserve the independence of justice” as an “essential institution for the proper functioning of democracy.” The Head of State spoke these words during the delivery of dispatches from the 72nd promotion of new judges in an event held in the Barcelona Forum Auditorium and in full tension between the judiciary and the executive over the amnesty law for independence supporters . The monarch recalled that judicial independence “is the essence of the rule of law” and stated that “without an independent justice system, the concept of a democratic political community would not truly exist.” And he has stressed that “respect for the resolutions issued by judicial bodies and the equality of all before the law are essential conditions in a democracy.”
The clash between the judiciary and the executive over the amnesty law and the differences over the possible accusation of terrorism against Puigdemont have emerged during the ceremony. The acting president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Vicente Guilarte, addressing the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, present at the event, blurted out: “Leave us alone!” During his speech he criticized that the actions of the judges “can never be reviewed in instances other than jurisdictional ones”, in reference to the law of criminal oblivion promoted by the Government with the independentists, and he stressed that the CGPJ will remain “vigilant” against any attack on judicial independence “no matter where it comes from.” “Neither do I influence political activity, nor do I want them to influence mine,” he recriminated. The Minister of Justice has listened impassively to Guilarte’s reproaches. In addition to the president of the CGPJ, the main institutions of the judiciary such as the president of the Supreme Court and the attorney general of the State attended the event.
The president of the CGPJ has also emphasized the provisional nature in which the governing body of the judges lives. He has accused politics of having failed to “agree on the renewal of the CGPJ, leading to a vicarious degradation” of the institution. “It is them and not us who encourage this unbearable situation,” he lamented. It is the first time, and perhaps the last – as he himself has acknowledged – that he attended this event as head of the CGPJ, since he came to office last July after the forced retirement of Rafael Mozo, who in turn replaced Carlos Lesmes who He presented his resignation in October 2022 due to the blockade of the renewal of the Council.
Felipe VI has presented the diplomas to the 72nd promotion of the judicial career, which is made up mostly of women. The number of female judges triples that of male judges. Of the 160 members of the new class, 119 are women and 41 are men. Most of the students entered the judicial school when they were between 26 and 30 years old. The majority of new judges have taken five years to prepare and approve the opposition and do not come from a family of jurists. Andalusia is the community that contributes the most new judges with 33; followed by Castilla y León and the Community of Madrid, with 18 new members each. They are followed by the Valencian Community (16), Catalonia (14), Galicia (13), Aragon (11), Asturias (9), Cantabria (6), the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, the Region of Murcia, Navarra and the Basque Country ( 4 each) and the Balearic Islands and Extremadura (1 each).
Three-quarters of the members of the class (74.19%) neither have nor have family members who have practiced a legal profession. 21.29% have a family member who works in a legal profession other than that of judge or magistrate, and only 4.52% have a member of the Judicial Career in their family. 65% of the new judges have never worked before and all have had the support of their parents. During the preparation stage for the opposition, practically all of the students in the class (98.71%) had the financial support of their parents. Nearly 30% have worked previously and, of these, two out of three have done so in a sector outside the legal field.
