The PP wants the Supreme Court judges to be able to retire at 75 to avoid collapse in the High Court

Promotes an initiative to try to alleviate the effect of the legal reform of the Government that prevents appointments to the CGPJ

MADRID, 4 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Popular Parliamentary Group has presented a legislative initiative to modify the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ) so that it is possible for the magistrates of the Supreme Court to retire voluntarily three years later, at the age of 75. In this way, it intends to alleviate a possible collapse of the High Court derived from the impossibility of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to make new discretionary appointments in the judicial leadership.

The Organic Law Proposal, signed by the spokeswoman Cuca Gamarra and to which Europa Press has had access, incorporates a single article in which it includes the modification of article 386 of the LOPJ regarding the retirement age of judges and magistrates.

Remember that although retirement by age is compulsory when you turn 70, this date can be extended for two more years until you reach 72 years of age. And it includes the novelty, and that is that the Supreme Court magistrates must be able to extend their stay in active service until they reach a maximum of 74 years.

It adds in the modification that the magistrate's decision will be binding on the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), "who may only deny it when the applicant does not meet the age requirement or when the application is submitted after the indicated period".

And they add one more to those 74 years --up to 75--, but "provided that this is what the magistrate has stated to the CGPJ six months in advance."

This modification promoted by the Popular Parliamentary Group adds one more change to the law, specifically article 61 bis, with which it seeks to enable the extension for annuities of the secondment of additional members to the service of the Technical Cabinet of the Supreme Court.

"Exceptionally, for circumstantial and duly justified reasons, at the proposal of the General Council of the Judiciary and after hearing the Governing Chamber of the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice may temporarily assign, for a period of one year, extendable for annual periods, an additional number of members at the service of the Technical Office", he indicates.

In the explanatory statement of the initiative, the 'popular' recall that although the CGPJ "has among its powers the proposal for the appointment of judges, magistrates and magistrates of the Supreme Court", the legal modification promoted by the socialists and Unidas Podemos in March 2021 limited the ability to make appointments in the judicial leadership -including the Supreme Court-. With this maneuver they sought to force a renewal of the governing body of judges that has been in office since 2018.

The PP, which recalls that this modification is being appealed before the Constitutional Court, indicates that it has led to a lack of coverage of seats in the High Court that means that a large number of sentences are no longer handed down per year.

In line, they mention the agreement of the Government Chamber of the Supreme Court, of January 2023, which pointed out that the impact of not being able to cover casualties only in Social and Contentious-Administrative matters will cause some 1,230 fewer sentences to be handed down in 2023 (570 less in Litigation and 660 in Social), "with the serious damage to the defendant that this entails", and with the serious delay in thousands of resolutions that would lead to the "collapse" of both chambers.

It adds that the report on the situation of the Demarcation and the Judicial Plant, published by the CGPJ on January 1, establishes a total of 79 positions for Supreme Court magistrates in the five chambers, but indicates that according to the data provided by the Chamber of Government there are 19 vacancies (24% of the workforce). That figure, they explain, will be increased given that five more magistrates retire in the coming months.