A study carried out by the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association (AJFV) has shown that in recent years the number of early retirements or voluntary departures from judicial careers has increased significantly. The report highlights that voluntary or early retirements accounted for 47.47% of retirements registered in 2023, compared to 31.4% in 2022, meaning they increased by just over 15 percentage points in a single year. “A judge retires every four days in Spain,” explains Sergio Oliva, AJFV spokesman and author of the study. Oliva denounces the “alarming problem” facing the judicial administration, with “an unprecedented escalation of retirements”, to the point that by 2031, 33% of the judicial career will have retired, according to the Forecasts of this association judges.
The report cites a lack of career incentives as one of the causes of early departures. It is recalled that the current ban on appointments by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has prevented internal promotions for access to the most important positions, such as those of the Supreme Court and presidencies of courts or higher tribunals of the autonomous communities. The AFV has already expressed its concern about the situation through various initiatives, including the appeal that succeeded in getting the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to recognize the candidates' right of access to the Judicial Council itself the procedure can take place could be followed. Planned by parliament for this purpose. The appeal was brought by six AFV judges, who were apparently aware that the renewal of the Council is the necessary step to release the appointments, especially after the Constitutional Court approved in two judgments the legal reform giving a power to the appointments prohibited. The court case has expired mandate.
The association study on voluntary retirements explains that a total of 99 retirements from the judicial career took place in 2023. Of these, 47 were voluntary or foreseeable, 44 were forced due to age and 8 were due to permanent disability. Voluntary or early retirements account for 47.47% of retirements in 2023, compared to 31.4% in 2022. That means they increased by more than 15 percentage points in a single year.
Oliva affirms that the study he conducted shows that there are three fundamental causes of the progression of the judicial career of those who leave it prematurely. It's about the aging of the judicial career, the increasing work overload “leading to work-related health problems” among judges, plus the lack of a clearly defined professional career in which experience and competence are recognized as a judge. The spokesman for the association, Francisco de Vitoria, believes that these three causes of sick leave and early retirement “intertwine and reinforce each other”.
The study provides the following data on work overload. First, in Spain there are only 11.26 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, while the European average is 17.6. The number of legal disputes, however, is constantly increasing. This rate, which measures the number of cases filed per 1,000 inhabitants, is between 143.8% and 147.5% at the end of 2023, while it was 128.3% in 2018. This corresponds to an increase of between 15 and 19 percentage points compared to five years ago.
The study also mentions that, according to calculations by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the recruitment of almost 6,500 new judges would be necessary over the next decade in order to improve the utility of the judicial administration public service. To address this situation, between 310 and 320 legal career positions would need to be created annually by 2032. The spokesman for the association Francisco de Vitoria emphasizes that despite these forecasts, the last call for tenders – the one that corresponded to the last month of November – there were only 120 places, “which”, says Sergio Oliva, “is obviously insufficient”.
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Given the data disclosed in the report, Oliva emphasizes that “the effective judicial protection of citizens is at risk.” In his opinion, the measures taken will “determine the integrity of our judicial system” since “only with professional justice and without health problems caused by overload can true independence of the judiciary be maintained.”
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