• Justice Flight of judges in Catalonia: The TSJC asks for "some economic incentive" to prevent them from leaving

This year the Catalan judicial plant has had a deficit of 64 judges and magistrates, the highest figure in the last ten years in which only that of 2015, at the beginning of the independence process, with 59 is a little closer. This means that more judges and magistrates have asked to go to other destinations in the rest of Spain compared to those who have come to the community. Of the last 5 years only in 2018, with a deficit of 28 professionals it had been the highest figure. It was just after October 1 and the Unilateral Declaration of Independence when the role of judges was most questioned and even the security of the courts had to be reinforced in the face of the CDR attack with excrement and garbage on some courts.

Faced with this situation, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has issued a cry of alert. Already in the Memory of last year he requested a salary supplement for judges as an incentive to come to practice in the community, however, this Friday the Government Chamber of the Catalan high court has decided to issue an agreement for this problem taking into account "the coverage needs generated as a result of the dismissal of the students of the 70th Promotion of Judicial School who are in replacement functions in various judicial bodies in Catalonia and the publication of the contest for the transfer of Judges "this year.

73 of the 188 judges of this class, who receive their office from King Felipe VI on Monday at the end of the Judicial School, must take office in the coming weeks in Catalan judicial parties. The TSJC agreement recalls that Catalonia "has been suffering for decades a permanent desertification of the judicial plant. The causes to which this phenomenon has usually been attributed have been diverse, from the higher cost that life entails in this territory, due to the lack of opposition tradition for access to the judicial career or, even, the additional difficulty that may be caused by judges from other territories, the fact that Catalonia has its own language or a civil law, also own.To all these reasons that have tried to explain the lack of interest in applying for and / or staying in the destinations of Catalonia, more recently, the situation experienced in recent years has been added ".

"However, in the case, rather than going into a deep examination of the reasons that have caused this territory not to be attractive for many judges and magistrates, it is interesting, on the one hand, to show that the desertification that has been verified It is not a temporary or transitory phenomenon, nor is it likely to disappear by itself. And, on the other, to raise the need to adopt, without delay, effective measures to encourage the stability of the judicial staff, "says the TSJC.

"Short-term measure"

In this sense, the court asks the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to urge the Ministry of Justice to establish this destination supplement "similar in concept and amount" to the one that already exists in the Canary Islands, the Basque Country and Navarra. They consider that "the stability of the regular judges and magistrates with destination in Catalonia requires the adoption of measures that encourage voluntariness in obtaining a destination and the permanence in that territory, effectively" and recall that "the massive offer of places of this territory for newly admitted judges is a short-term measure that only temporarily alleviates the existing deficit, being ineffective in preventing mobility, lack of coverage of places and its consequences. "

The TSJC maintains that there are "special circumstances" in view of "the need to stabilize the judicial staff in Catalonia" and that is why it must be alleviated with a "specific economic forecast". The president of this court, Jesús María Barrientos, remarked that in the coming weeks there will be about 80 fewer places for judges in Catalonia, taking into account the dismissal of the 20 students from the Judicial School who filled replacement and reinforcement places in their last stage of training, since now they receive the first destination, in addition to the third contest this year with requests for change of destination, in which 41 judges graduated from the previous class and who until now practiced in Catalonia will go to other courts.

In addition, in December there will be a fourth contest for changes of destinations this year and 21 more judges will leave. Of the judges of the new class, 73 will come to Catalan judicial parties as of December, although "most of them come because they have had no alternative" by having to choose their first place among the available places, "said Barrientos and recalled that" they will to stay in these destinations for the minimum essential time ", since they will not be able to request a transfer until one year from now and most come from other autonomous communities.

"It is not risky, therefore, to predict that the same could happen with the judges of the 70th Class of the Judicial School that, shortly, will take possession of their first assignment and that they will be able to compete within a year", concludes the TSJC that It also highlights that of the seven places that have been deserted after the choice of destinations by these judges, 6 of them are in Catalonia (La Bisbal d'Empordá, Ripoll, Santa Coloma de Farners, La Seu d'Urgell, Solsona and Tremp) and the rest in the Canary Islands (San Sebastián de la Gomera)

Substitute judges

The TSJC highlights that at the end of November "a total of 40 courts will remain to be covered, neither by a titular judge nor by a substitute, until December 15, 2021, the date on which the incorporation to their destinations is foreseen. of the judges of the 70th Promotion of the Judicial School, which also means demanding an unfair overexertion from the judges who remain in Catalonia ". Thus, they affect the "intensive use of the bags of external substitutes that, as a consequence of the situation described, is being necessary to carry out and that has forced the recent expansion, as the number of substitutes has been exhausted. The total number of substitutes and available substitutes, at .021, amounts to 194, which represents 23.17% of the total organic workforce (837 places in Catalonia) ".

For this reason, the president of the TSJC considers that "we do not have enough judges to replace them to cover all those vacancies that are going to be generated", although he remarks that it is "a structural problem of the Catalan judicial career, and this scenario with all probability is going to be repeated on a recurring basis ".

For this reason, in addition to the incentives claimed from the Ministry, it also considers that another solution to "incentivize" is in the Generalitat's proposal to create scholarships for law graduates to oppose new judges.

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  • Catalonia

  • General Council of the Judiciary

  • Canary Islands

  • Spain

  • CDR

  • Navarre

  • Basque Country

  • Philip VI

  • Justice

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