The National Court annuls the places in embassies of four commissioners due to lack of motivation from Marlaska

MADRID, 13 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court has annulled the assignment of four commissioners to the embassies of Bogotá, Havana, Mexico DF and Moscow due to lack of motivation for the appointments of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, thus addressing to the appeal filed by Enrique Barón, who was Commissioner of Information of the National Police with the Government of the PP.

"The Chamber cannot reach a solution favorable to the Administration, understanding, in effect, that the appealed resolution is not duly motivated as it does not offer any explanatory element of the reason why it preferred the chosen candidates instead of the appellee", points out the sentence dated November 3, consulted by Europa Press, after the appeal to that of April 5, 2022 of the Central Contentious-Administrative Court number 5.

The main commissioner Enrique Barón appealed the decision of the Ministry of the Interior of April 21, 2021 after not being chosen among the shortlist of candidates for the posts of Interior advisers in the embassies of Bogotá, Havana, Mexico City and Moscow. In September of that year, the department directed by Grande-Marlaska announced that this police command had been elected provincial chief of Malaga.

The judgment of the National Court confirms the decision reached in the first instance, although with "important precision regarding the extent of its effects" once the formal infringement has been detected, since it orders the "reinstatement of the administrative actions at the time they were committed ", this is prior to the issuance of the proposal of the Commission for Destinations Abroad.

Therefore, it specifies, "with the annulment of said proposal and of all subsequent actions, including the appointments made by the Minister, all of this, of course, in relation to the positions requested by the plaintiff: the departments of Bogotá, Havana , Mexico City and Moscow". It also imposes the payment of costs to the State Administration, which can appeal to the Chamber within 30 days.

The Chamber recognizes that in the appointment file, each candidate's congratulations and decorations, academic qualifications, international experience or knowledge of languages ​​are recorded, although without contrast between them to determine why one was chosen compared to the appellant.

It also differentiates the choice between this type of freely appointed position and other "judicial discretionary appointments without comparative examination of merits" arguing that, in the case of commissioners in embassies, one of the most sought-after positions in the body, has to prevail - according to the Supreme Court ruling of 2019-- the "duty of motivation breached in the case", which entails "showing the fundamental reasons or criteria for which one candidate was preferred over another".

In this way, he argues, it is possible to "guarantee the effectiveness" of a free appointment procedure under the principles of equality, merit and capacity, "removing the decision from any suspicion of arbitrariness."