The president of Superior Court of Justice of Navarre, Joaquín Galveonce again warned against absolute lack of space at the Pamplona courthouse. “And I must also remember that, once again, The Justice budget in Navarra is the lowest in Spain in relation to GDPand the same goes for per capita expenditure,” underlined the president of the Superior Court of Justice of Navarre (TSJN).
“Four years ago, at the opening of the judicial year, I declared that before the lack of space in this buildingwe had to think about finding new spaces. When in doubt, when leaving this building, if you haven’t already, look to your left, and they won’t see anything, you will see the desired lot. Well, the Special Urban Action Plan (PEAU) has not even been approved. It looks like it could happen soon, I don’t know, what I do know is that the fact that the Plan has been approved does not mean that we already have the new building, far from it,” he said. -he emphasized.
“I had already predicted a few years ago that the new building I wasn’t going to see him as president. We have years and I already have doubts that I’ll just see him. Last September 6, we saw how the Rector of UPNA demanded, at the opening of the academic year, more public investments; Last week the Parliament of Navarra signed a motion of support, confidence and commitment to the UPNA. And he also approved that it be provided with sufficient financial resources. Ladies and gentlemen, will we see in the coming days the approval in Parliament of a similar motion for our needs? Let’s hope so,” the president told them.
During today’s event, during which Superior Prosecutor of Navarre, Jaime Goyenavarious authorities attended, among others, the President of the Parliament of Navarre, Unai Hualde; THE Government delegate, Alicia Echeverría; and the Minister of the Interior, Civil Service and Justice, Amparo López.
In his speech, Galve asserted that statistical data achieved despite a rate of 10.7 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, the second lowest index in Spainonly below Castilla La Mancha (10.2), while the national average is 12.1.
The report “Justice data by data”, prepared by the CGPJ for the year 2023, analyzes, among other indices, the fares, waiting and congestion. In both cases, in 2023, the Courts and Tribunals of Navarra have, with Aragon, the lowest rate. It is also true that the litigation rate in Navarra continues to be one of the lowest in Spain, after that of La Rioja and the Basque Country. I must once again thank the generous effort and dedication of all those who, in one way or another, participate in the administration of justice in Navarre.
“I must thank, for one more year, the efforts of judges, prosecutors and lawyers of the administration of justice, the incontestable and generous dedication of the officials of this administration, as well as the police forces, lawyers, lawyers from the different administrations, lawyers, social graduates, forensic doctors, psychologists, experts and all those who, in one way or another, collaborate with us, including, of course, the General Directorate of Justice of the Government of Navarra”, emphasized Galve.
At present, Navarre has 71 judges, of which 43 (60.5%) are women and 28 men.
As for the Lawyers of the Administration of Justicethe workforce in Navarre is currently 51 people, 77.5% of whom are women. In addition, there are 267 justices of the peace and the number of agents of the administration of justice in this territory amounts to 457.
In his speech, the President of the Superior Court presented the current state of the Navarrese judicial bodies by jurisdiction. In total, in 2023 Around 77,770 procedures were initiated (around 2,500 more than the previous year) and just over 72,000 were resolved.
Among the admitted acts, 55% were criminal37% civiliansand the rest, a little more than 6% were work and less than 2% controversial administrative.
The entrance to business increased in civil and criminal jurisdictionswith a slight reduction in social litigation and a very significant reduction in administrative litigation (more than 30%); The Commercial Courts suffered an increase of 174% in matters of bankruptcy and of 66% in matters of non-bankruptcy.
“These indicators, in my opinion, in a common vision, point towards a worrying economic situation. The trend in the first half of this year is also worse, with a significant increase in commercial, family, labor or civil procedures, the latter having increased in the five judicial districts of Navarre. Likewise, during this first half of the year, there is a significant increase in cases filed in criminal courts and in juvenile court, Galve pointed out.
In the existing civil status registers in the five judicial districts of Navarra, we can highlight in 2023, unlike previous years, the positive balance between the registration of births (5,406) and that of deaths (4,547)the balance being negative only in the judicial districts of Tafalla and Tudela.
In the report prepared by the Navarro Institute of Legal Medicine, the “important” reduction in the number of deaths in road accidents (17), “the lowest in memory”, undoubtedly thanks to the “success of road safety awareness campaigns”. “But on the other hand, perhaps we should reflect on a negative fact reflected in this report, that of suicides (63), the highest number in the last 10 years,” lamented the president.
The courts competent in matters of gender violence, experienced an increase of 19% in Tudela and 27% in Pamplona. Since January 31, Pamplona has had a second Violence Against Women Court, which also deals with this case in the judicial district of Aoiz. “The truth is that the creation of this second court, like that of the second commercial court, a year earlier, represented an important relief in two matters as sensitive as these.
In the chapter on personnel needs, in the judicial report of the TSJN, prepared this year, corresponding to 2023, the creation of the following judicial positions: the third position of magistrate of the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice, the seventh position of magistrate of the Third Section of the Provincial Court, of the eleventh Court of First Instance of Pamplona and of the fifth Social Court.
“Unfortunately, the The Ministry of Justice has already announced that it will not create any courts throughout Spain, a circumstance that he attributes to the lack of general budgets, when the truth is that the presidents of the higher courts proposed to the minister to create the same number of courts (70) as with previous budgets. But it won’t be like that,” Galve warned.
The president once again recalled that the The justice budget in Navarra is the lowest in Spain relative to GDP, and this is also true relative to per capita spending.
The president of the TSJN asked the Government of Navarre for its commitment to extend the Educate for Justice program, promoted by the General Council of the Judicial Power, among public schools and institutes. In this program, aimed at students between 13 and 17 years old, in Navarre, a magistrate goes to the educational centers to represent a trial with the students and, after this, informs and warns them about the main problems facing students are exposed. minors, such as gender-based violence, cyberbullying, use of social networks and harassment. During the last school year, about 400 students participated, mostly from charter schools.
Likewise, in his speech, Joaquín Galve also recalled the attacks, disqualifications and attempts at discredit due to resolutions issued on the occasion of Organic Law 10/2022, popularly known as only yes means yes.
“In Navarre it is well known that this Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court issued an order for the review of a sentence (which was reduced from 15 to 14 years in prison) in a case of great media importance, which meant everything for us. offensive and disqualifying responses. Well, this resolution was recently confirmed in its entirety by the Supreme Court, the highest judicial body in Spain in criminal matters, or at least that is what many of us believed until recently” , emphasized Galve, who added: “Of course, We admit divergence and disparity of opinions, even the critics, but not the insult and the lack of respect of those who consider us ignorant, at best, and to whom, moreover, in the vast majority of cases, we know no academic merit, nor the origin of their source of legal knowledge.
Joaquín Galve took advantage of the event to say goodbye, because at the end of the year, in December, he will complete his second and final 5-year term as president of the Superior Court of Justice of Navarre.
“For me, as a judge, these 10 years as president They were the greatest honor and privilege I could ever aspire to, unthinkable when I entered the judicial career, and I have only gratitude, immense gratitude towards all those who, in one way or another, participate in the administration of justice, I felt, at all times, respected and supported by all”, riveted
