Bill to expand and strengthen the judicial and prosecutorial careers

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would change how people enter the judicial and prosecutorial careers: the open competitive exam would have a multiple-choice test, an oral test recorded on video, and a written, anonymous test with practical cases, to value more than memorization.
2. The Center for Legal Studies would become a public center to prepare for these exams and would grant scholarships, worth at least the annual minimum wage and for up to four years.
3. Promotion would change: judges would become senior judges (magistrados) after five years of service, instead of waiting for vacancies. The same system would apply to prosecutors.
4. Elections to the Government Chambers would use electronic or in-person voting, with individual candidacies and one vote per voter; proxy voting would be eliminated.
5. Substitute judges and acting senior judges would only be subject to the incompatibility rules while actually performing their duties, and a substitute judge's assignment to a vacant position would last at most one year with no extension.
6. The Judicial Ethics Commission would be regulated in detail: nine members, five from the judiciary and four professors of ethics or philosophy chosen by the Congress and the Senate, with opinions that have no binding effect.
7. A single extraordinary stabilization process is proposed for substitute judges, acting senior judges and substitute prosecutors, with the call published before December 31, 2025 and resolved before December 31, 2026.
8. Those who do not pass the stabilization process and see their relationship with the Administration end would receive compensation of twenty days of fixed salary per year of service, up to twelve monthly payments.

Who it affects

• Candidates for the judicial and prosecutorial careers: The entrance exams would change, and they could request financial aid from the Center for Legal Studies to prepare.
• Substitute judges, acting senior judges and substitute prosecutors: They could take part in an extraordinary stabilization process and would face stricter limits on their assignments.
• Active judges and senior judges: Promotion, specialization, incompatibility rules and Government Chamber elections would change for them.
• Prosecutors: The new seniority-based promotion system and access for jurists of recognized competence would apply to them.

Words worth knowing

Sala de Gobierno (Government Chamber)

The internal governing body of a court, which organizes the work of its judges.

Concurso-oposición

A selection process that combines a knowledge exam with an assessment of the candidate's merits.

Consejo General del Poder Judicial

The body that governs the courts and appoints judges in Spain.

Vacatio legis

The period between a law's approval and its entry into force, to allow everyone to adapt.

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