Bill to give the Public Prosecutor's Office more independence from the Government

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would give the Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministerio FiscalMinisterio Fiscal Public body that defends the law and citizens' rights before the courts; its members are the prosecutors.) full budget autonomy, with its own specific section in the State General Budgets.
2. The bill proposes that the State Attorney General (Fiscal General del EstadoFiscal General del Estado The head of the Public Prosecutor's Office.) be appointed by the King at the Government's proposal, but with a new parliamentary step: the candidate would appear before a Congress committee, and the full House would need to ratify the appointment with at least two thirds of the votes. If not ratified, the Government must put forward a new candidate within one month.
3. The Attorney General's term would last six years and could not be renewed. Removal would only be possible for specific causes, and serious misconduct would be assessed by the full Congress with a two thirds majority, not at the Government's discretion.
4. The composition and election of the Fiscal Council (Consejo FiscalConsejo Fiscal The body that assists and advises the State Attorney General.) would be reformed: its members would be elected by all prosecutors in active service for four years, and the body would gain powers over appointments, training and disciplinary proceedings.
5. Communications between the Government and the Public Prosecutor's Office, and between the Cortes Generales and the latter, would always have to be in writing. Also, if a prosecutor receives an order they consider contrary to the law, the disagreement would be decided with binding force by their Prosecutors' Assembly or the Fiscal Council.
6. The transitional provision sets a three month deadline from the law's entry into force for the Government to propose the new Attorney General under the new procedure. The Government would also have six months to draft a new regulation of the Statute, and the law would enter into force one month after its publication in the Official State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado).

Who it affects

• The Public Prosecutor's Office and its prosecutors: Their rules on appointments, leadership, assemblies, discipline and relations with superiors would change.
• The State Attorney General (Fiscal General del Estado): How they are appointed and removed would change, with ratification by Congress and a non renewable six year term.
• The Government: It would lose its discretionary choice of Attorney General, and its communications with the Prosecution would always be in writing.
• The Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados): It would gain a central role in ratifying the appointment and being able to remove the Attorney General.
• The Fiscal Council (Consejo Fiscal): Its composition would change and it would gain powers over appointments, training and sanctions.

Words worth knowing

Ministerio Fiscal

Public body that defends the law and citizens' rights before the courts; its members are the prosecutors.

Fiscal General del Estado

The head of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Consejo Fiscal

The body that assists and advises the State Attorney General.

Avocar

For a superior to take over a case that was assigned to another prosecutor.

Recurso contencioso-administrativo

A court appeal against an administrative decision.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries