Rule of law

Despite a few challenges, participants said that the rule of law was solid. They underlined that the Spanish system was rights-based, offering guarantees to citizens. 

The main challenge in this area related to the delay in the renewal of the governing body of the judiciary (the General Council of Judicial Power, GCJP). Due to difficulties in reaching an agreement between political parties, the GCJP had not been renewed for three years. Public authorities confirmed that no political agreement had been reached regarding the renewal of the GCJP. Participants considered that the non-renewal of the GCJP was a threat to the independence of the judiciary, and that the election of the members of the GCJP was too politicised. 

Participants suggested that the GCJP election process should change to ensure that its members were directly elected by judges instead of the legislative chambers. However, participants considered that beyond the issue of the nomination process of the GCJP, the judiciary was independent overall. They considered that Spanish judges could carry out their daily work in an independent way, unimpeded by political pressure.

Participants felt that the judiciary laboured under a shortage of resources. According to participants, the number of judges per inhabitant was insufficient, leading to overly lengthy proceedings, especially in upper courts and the Supreme Court. However, public authorities pointed out that the number of judges per 100 000 inhabitants in Spain was similar to that of other nearby countries with a similar population like France or Italy. 

Participants considered that corruption was quite strong in Spain, particularly in the area of public procurement. Progress had been achieved in the prosecution and sanctioning of corruption, but improvements were still needed. For instance, participants suggested reinforcing the monitoring power of the Court of Auditors, responsible for monitoring the spending of public money. The Spanish 
authorities considered that they had made progress on the prosecution and sanctioning of corruption, describing an additional framework for the fight against corruption in Spain which also strengthened the National Anti-Fraud Strategy. 

Regarding the prosecuting of police officers for violent crimes and hate crimes, the participants did not have the impression that police officers benefitted from any special protection from the judiciary to the detriment of the general public.

Lastly, participants did not feel that the COVID-19 pandemic had had a particular impact on the situation of the rule of law in Spain.