The Supreme Court rejects the appeal of a captain against the Grand Cross of Military Merit awarded to the president of the CEOE

The court concludes that the captain could not have been harmed by the recognition of Antonio Garamendi

MADRID, 18 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal filed by an aeronautical technical engineer captain against the 2021 Royal Decree that awarded the Grand Cross of Military Merit with a white badge to the president of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE), Antonio Garamendi Lecanda.

The captain defended that he had a legitimate interest in appealing, considering that Garamendi's decoration was undeserved and unjustified, which, in his opinion, devalued the Aeronautical Merit Cross that he was awarded in 1983.

In a sentence, collected by Europa Press, the magistrates have concluded that it cannot be considered that any damage has been caused. Thus, it has established that he does not have a legitimate interest to appeal, which has led the court to reject the appeal due to lack of legal standing.

In the resolution, for which Judge Pablo Lucas Murillo de la Cueva was the rapporteur, the Supreme Court has ruled out that Garamendi's decoration could have such a negative influence on another that was awarded 39 years earlier to another person.

In 16 folios, the Contentious-Administrative Chamber has underlined that the initiative to grant the merit came from the Chief of the Army General Staff, accompanied by the corresponding report, and was approved by the Minister of Defense, who is the one who submitted it to the Council of Ministers.

"It is true that the justification offered by said report is generic but, according to the results of the proceedings, it rests on relevant facts in which Garamendi Lecanda has intervened as president of the CEOE in favor of the Army. We are talking about the activities that he indicates as The State Attorney is notorious and also highlights the response to the respondent's claim. Activities of which, significantly, the appellant's conclusions say nothing, "the magistrates have pointed out.

According to the judgment, the report by the Chief of the General Staff detailed seven projects to which Garamendi contributed that were considered to be of great interest and importance for the Army.

Likewise, the court has considered it evident that the concession was made in Garamendi Lecanda's capacity as president of the CEOE, "in such a way that the Grand Cross of Military Merit not only distinguishes or rewards the person but also the organization that he presides and It represents". "Let's not forget that the proposal establishes his condition as President of said organization," he stressed.