The Government of Spain pushes through the reform that expands and modernises judicial and prosecutors careers

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, and the Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers (Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez)

The Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, has presented the five main axes of the future Organic Law for the Expansion and Strengthening of Judicial and Prosecutors Careers, whose draft bill was analysed today by the Council of Ministers. The text will be submitted for consultation and receive the required reports before being definitively approved by the Government and sent to Parliament for parliamentary processing.

Félix Bolaños stressed that the future regulation is the result of "the work of the coalition Government as a whole" and represents "a giant step forward in the modernisation of justice" in Spain. This is the biggest reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary since 1985 and is in line with the Law on the Efficiency of the Public Justice Service published in the Official State Gazette on 3 January.

Main axes of the reform

The five axes that update the law passed 40 years ago are: promoting equal opportunities in the access of professionals to the judicial system; seeking excellence and diversity in the members of the Justice Administration; increasing the number of staff; improving their professional careers and promoting plurality and transparency in its structures.

Equal opportunities in access to judicial and prosecutor careers

The Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez

All candidates to the judicial career, to the prosecutor's career, to the Public Prosecutor's Office or to a lawyer in the Justice Administration will have the right to apply for a public grant equivalent to at least the Minimum Salary for four years so that they can prepare for the competitive examinations regardless of their family income.

Bolaños pointed out that the Government has already set up this system of grants for families with low or medium incomes, from which almost a thousand candidates benefit, and now it is enshrined in law. In addition, he announced that he will increase the number of scholarship holders so that people who have never considered taking the competitive examination for economic reasons will now be able to do so.

With the same objective in mind, the Minister announced that the Legal Studies Centre in Madrid will become a public centre for the preparation of competitive examinations for prosecutors, judges, state lawyers and lawyers for the Justice Administration, and will have branches in other provinces so that any candidate can visit its facilities. In addition, a public register of judges and magistrates who are recognised as being compatible to be trainers of competitive examinations will be created.

Adequacy of career access to achieve excellence

Félix Bolaños explained that the Government wants the access system to "continue to select the best", which is why the access systems are being adapted to current needs. In this regard, the minister argued that a common task of judges and magistrates is to write rulings, orders and sentences, and yet there is currently no test in the competitive examination that assesses the ability to write and relate legal concepts.

After the entry into force of the regulation, the examination will comprise a multiple-choice test, an oral test and a written test. The minister considers that this measure "will serve to raise the level of examinees".

On the other hand, changes will be made to the fourth round which, together with the open round, is the other access route to the judicial career. Through the fourth round, jurists of recognised competence with more than 10 years of professional practice can enter the judicial career through merit assessment and a written test.

In order to speed up the selection of candidates for the fourth round, Bolaños pointed out that the written test will be held first and only the merits and CVs of those who have passed it will be evaluated.

In addition, all written tests will be anonymous, so as to ensure equal opportunities for all candidates.

Increase in the number of staff in the Justice Administration

The third block of measures seeks to increase the number of judges and magistrates. "We want there to be enough people to ensure that justice is swift and, therefore, citizens can have the right to a judicial resolution in a reasonable time," said Félix Bolaños.

To this end, the future law amends the regulation of the fourth round. The current model stipulates that, of every four people who enter the judicial career, three must do so through the open examination and one through the competitive examination. Bolaños pointed out that this obligation has not been fulfilled in practice and that today only 9.33% of judges come from the fourth round. With the change promoted by the Executive, the open examination and the competitive examination will be simultaneous. In this way," explained the minister, "if, for example, 300 places are offered for the open round, 100 places for the fourth round will be available at the same time.

A fourth round is also established for access to the prosecutor's career, also aimed at professionals of recognised competence who have been practising for more than 10 years.

Furthermore, in order to meet the European Commission's request to Spain to reduce the excessive temporary nature of the judicial and prosecutor careers, the law establishes an extraordinary procedure for the regularisation of substitute judges, substitute magistrates and substitute prosecutors.

Career development

The Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, during his speech | Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez

The development of the professional career is another of the pillars of the text presented by the Minister for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations. To give judges and magistrates more certainty about their promotion possibilities, the current system, in which promotion from judge to magistrate depends on the existence of vacancies, is changed to automatic promotion by seniority. Thus, after five years, judges will become magistrates, and lawyers will become prosecutors.

Also in relation to substitute judges, a more reasonable regime of incompatibilities is provided for. The current one, according to Bolaños, prevents them from providing other services not only when they are working as substitute judges, but even when they are waiting to be called.

In addition, the law equalises the promotion possibilities of commercial and sex-based violence judges to those of other judges (they now enjoy fewer, because they are considered to belong to mixed courts).

Plurality and transparency

A final set of changes relates to the plurality and integrity of the judiciary.

On one hand, the composition of the Ethics Committee of the General Council of the Judiciary, which is the main advisory body of the judiciary on ethical issues, is modified. If it is now composed of seven members who are elected by the judges and magistrates, in the future it will have nine: five will be elected as at present and the other four will be professors of Ethics, Philosophy of Law or Moral Philosophy elected by Parliament.

On the other hand, the election processes of the Chambers of Government of the main courts are modernised: delegated voting is eliminated, it is established that each judge or magistrate may vote for one candidate and the terms of office are reduced from five to three years.

Finally, the rule regulates the financing of professional judicial associations, which may not come from private sources.

Pension revaluation

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has reported on the approval of the royal decree that allows the regulatory development and, therefore, the execution of Royal Decree-Law 9/2024 of 23 December, which includes, among other issues, the revaluation of pensions and other Social Security benefits.

Alegría underlined the Executive's commitment to this revaluation: "Not only have we revalued pensions in line with the cost of living, but we also want to end the legislature with the pension fund once again filled with more than 30 billion euros."

The increase, effective from 1 January, translates into a general increase of 2.8% in the pensions of the Social Security system and State Pensioners; a 9% increase in non-contributory pensions and the Minimum Basic Income and a rise of around 6% in the amount of minimum pensions. The revaluation will be applied to 12 million pensions in the system and will mean an increase of 12% over the last two years in minimum pensions, above the value of the CPI.

New DANA aid

Pilar Alegría also highlighted the approval of a new mechanism for the financing for companies in areas affected by the DANA through the Support Fund for Productive Industrial Investment, the REINICIA+ FAIIP DANA aid. With 650 million euros, these aids will go to small, medium and large companies located in flood-affected areas or wishing to invest in these areas.

The minister explained that this new aid will be granted in the form of loans at 0% interest and with a three-year grace period, and she pointed out that the concession period will run until 30 November 2028. The loans may be used for investment in assets to create new establishments, expand existing establishments, diversification of production, transformation of the production process and acquisition of assets belonging to an establishment that has closed or would have closed had it not been acquired.

National Food Strategy

The Council of Ministers also presented the National Food Strategy (ENA) which, as Alegría explained, aims to "show Spain for what it is: a global food power." The spokesperson pointed out that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has taken this strategy to the Council in order to "consolidate this role and, at the same time, strengthen our country's influence in European decision-making."

The ENA will thus function as a general framework for public policies aimed at achieving a more sustainable and competitive agri-food and fisheries system. This document will also set out Spain's position on the forthcoming challenges in the area of agri-food, one of the main axes of the new European legislature.

In this context, the Government spokesperson recalled that Spain is the fourth largest food exporter in the European Union and the seventh largest in the world. "And we are also the European country with the highest agricultural income: 37.759 billion euros in 2024. Therefore, they will understand the commitment and importance that this Government gives to this sector, which is key to our country," she concluded.

Other topical issues: Davos Forum

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, during her speech | Pool Moncloa/José Manuel Álvarez

During her speech at the press conference, Pilar Alegría also referred to the president of the Government of Spain's trip to Davos (Switzerland) to attend the 55th edition of the World Economic Forum. The minister indicated that Pedro Sánchez will attend this meeting accompanied by several members of the Executive in what she described as a "great moment" for Spain.

In this respect, Alegría highlighted the data in terms of employment and attracting foreign investment as very positive. "At the moment, our country is the economic engine of Europe and it is also an engine that combines growth and employment with fiscal responsibility, reducing inequality and strengthening rights," she said. Alegría added that the president will take advantage of the event to highlight these figures with a "very intense" agenda of forums, speeches in debates and bilateral meetings with company CEOs and political leaders.

Non official translation