The Minister of Justice, Local Administration, and Public Function, José Antonio Nieto, has expressed regret that the Ministry of Justice has rejected addressing the financing of the Public Service Efficiency Law in the Sectorial Conference, convened in Barcelona, as requested by several autonomous communities. «They tell us it has no cost and will generate savings,» Nieto noted, although the Junta estimates that just the first phase of the law, which in Andalucia requires the transformation of 70 out of the 85 judicial districts before July 1, will amount to 60 million euros between the new positions for officials that will be created, the reorganization of staff to adapt to the instance courts, or the works in the premises to restructure the spaces.
Nieto has lamented that due to the lack of agreement for the agenda to include, among other points to be voted on, the approval of funding for the law, several regional councilors have refused to participate in the meeting and has reiterated the request for the Government to reconsider. «They say it has no cost and will generate savings, if that’s the case, why is the Ministry afraid to take it on and then there will be no objection from the autonomous communities?» he added.
In this regard, he criticized the discussion of the allocation of 325 million to the communities when these funds, approved in 2021, came from the European Union and «went to all ministries and were distributed by obligation to the autonomous communities.» Nieto recalled that these funds are being used for Justice digitization projects that «have nothing to do with Efficiency Law,» such as the implementation of the Dicireg system in Civil Registries.
«We are risking the operation and quality of the public Justice service at a time when it is besieged and in a critical situation,» Nieto pointed out, expressing his hope that «hopefully this afternoon we could meet with minimal guarantees and less distrust than what we have perceived from the Ministry to work together, which is what we want, but in a relationship of equality and co-governance.»
The Andalusian Justice system has a volume almost equivalent to that of the communities without transferred competencies, the so-called Ministry territory. It has 85 judicial districts, 744 single-person bodies that will be grouped into instance courts, 700 peace courts that will be transformed into Municipal Justice Offices, almost 10,000 officials, 550 prosecutors, and around 700 LAJ.
The Efficiency Law requires adapting 70 out of the 85 judicial districts before July 1, another three by October 1, and the 12 with the most bodies (those of the eight capitals and large cities) by December 31. Additionally, on April 3, the obligation to attempt to resolve civil and commercial disputes before filing a lawsuit came into effect, which will require covering the expenses generated by these procedures to legal aid lawyers. Andalusia is the only community that has been covering these costs since January 1, 2024, with 400 euros per case, but only when an agreement is reached, as mediation was voluntary until now. Now, given the obligation to attempt mediation beforehand, the Junta will also have to bear the costs if an agreement is not reached when carried out by a duty solicitor.
A procedural requirement that Andalusians can handle through the Information Points for Mediation in Andalusia (PIMA), which have been in place since 2021, while the implementation of the Public Civil and Commercial Mediation Service (SEMCA) is being finalized. Last year, the Criminal Mediation Service (SEMPA) was launched to promote this alternative dispute resolution method.
Likewise, the Junta has launched a Judicial Infrastructures Plan 2023-2030 that will mobilize 1.5 billion euros to update the premises of 100% of the judicial districts, with the construction of new buildings and the expansion or renovation of existing ones, adapting all to the space reorganization that the transformation of the Justice system foreseen in the Efficiency Law entails.
Regarding the restructuring of officials’ positions according to the new Judicial Officer model, in the first phase of law implementation, 80 more official positions will be created that, along with the salary supplements that new positions assuming new functions will entail, represent an annual cost of 3.5 million.
All this implies a budgetary effort that the Andalusian Government of Juanma Moreno is assuming alone to apply the reform planned in the state law, published in January with the regional budgets already approved, within the tight deadlines set by the Ministry.