Felipe VI asks for respect for the resolutions and the independence of the judges

King Felipe took part yesterday in Barcelona in the act of handing over the judicial offices to the new promotion of judges. At a time of full tension between the powers of the State due to the Amnesty law, the monarch wanted to support the judges and make a call to respect the sentences and resolutions they dictate. In a speech before the top of the judiciary, with the president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Vicente Guilarte, the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, and the Minister of Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, the King made a call to “respect and preserve the independence of justice” as “an essential institution for the proper functioning of democracy”. The Head of State pronounced these words at the handing over of papers to the 72nd batch of judges in an event that was held in the Auditorium of the Forum in Barcelona. In the speech, he recalled that judicial independence “is the essence of the rule of law” and affirmed that, “without an independent justice system, there would be no true concept of a democratic political community”. And he remarked that “respect for the resolutions issued by the judicial bodies and the equality of all before the law are indispensable conditions in a democracy”. The clash between the judiciary and the executive over the Amnesty law and the differences over the eventual imputation of terrorism to Puigdemont surfaced during the ceremony. The acting president of the CGPJ, addressing Minister Bolaños, shouted: “Leave us alone!”. During the speech, Guilarte warned that the actions of the judges “can never be reviewed in non-jurisdictional instances”, alluding to the law of criminal oblivion that the central government is promoting with the pro-independence parties, and he stressed that the CGPJ will remain “vigilant against any attack on judicial independence, “wherever it comes from”. “Neither do I influence political activity, nor do I want them to influence mine”, he reprimanded. Reprimands that the Minister of Justice listened to impassive. The president of the CGPJ also emphasized the provisional nature of the judges’ governing body and accused the policy of not having succeeded in “agreeing on the renewal” of the body, to the point of “promoting a vicarious degradation” of the institution. “It is they and not us who promote this unbearable situation”, he lamented. It is the first time, and perhaps the last – as he himself acknowledged -, that Guilarte attends this event as president of the CGPJ, a position he assumed in July after the forced retirement of Rafael Mozo, who in turn he had replaced Carlos Lesmes, who submitted his resignation in October 2022 due to the blockage of the renewal of the Council. The 72nd promotion of the judicial career is mostly made up of women, who practically triple the number of men. Of the 160 members of the new promotion, 119 are women and 41 are men. Most of the students entered the judicial school when they were between 26 and 30 years old. Most new judges have taken five years to prepare and approve the opposition and do not come from a family of lawyers. Andalusia is the community that contributes the most new judges, with 33, followed by Castile and León and the Community of Madrid, with 18 new members each. Then there is the Valencian Community (16), Catalonia (14), Galicia (13), Aragon (11), Asturias (9), Cantabria (6), the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, the Region of Murcia, Navarre and the Basque Country (four each) and the Balearic Islands and Extremadura (one each). Three-quarters of the members of the promotion (74.19%) did not have and do not have family members who have exercised a legal profession. 21.29% have a relative who exercises a legal profession other than that of judge or magistrate, and 4.52% have a member of the judicial career in the family. 65% of the new judges have never worked and all have had the support of their parents. During the opposition preparation stage, 98.71% had the financial support of their parents. Around 30% have worked before and, of these, two out of three have worked in a sector outside the legal field.