The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) approved last July, a few days before its renewal after more than five years of mandate, the participation as speakers of four of its outgoing members in two courses in Colombia and Uruguay that will take place next fall. everyone will already have the status of ex. The agreements of the Permanent Commission that ratify these trips authorize the flights to be made “in a class higher than tourist class” and guarantee that the former members of the body “would receive remuneration” for these presentations in the event of “dissociation.” from the CGPJ.
Interviewed by elDiario.es, a spokesperson for the institution states that the procedure has been “absolutely normal.” He assures that the program began operating in April and that the election of the coordinators and speakers of the courses – among which there are also judges, prosecutors, professors, lawyers from the CGPJ or professors from the Judicial School – must be done with a certain margin of discretion to get the message across and for those interested to register. The same spokesperson insists that they participate as “experts” on the subject. The seminars are aimed at members of the judiciary of Latin American and Caribbean countries and are carried out in collaboration with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).
The agreement for the renewal of the CGPJ was announced on June 25 and the new members held the constitutive session on July 25. The Standing Commission of the organization approved in its sessions of July 4 and 24 – the last of the mandate – nearly thirty trips of different professionals related to law to give lectures or coordinate the aforementioned courses in Colombia and Uruguay. Among them, those of the then members María Ángeles Carmona, Carmen Llombart, Roser Bach and Mar Cabrejas. Also that of the outgoing Secretary General of the organization, Manuel Luna Carbonell, who delegates “expressly” the management of one of the courses in which he participates as a speaker.
The four members were part of the Permanent, the so-called “hard core” of the organization that specifically chose the coordinators and speakers of these activities. Carmona and Llombart were aligned in the conservative sector and Bach and Cabrejas in the progressive sector. All except Llombart, with only one trip to Colombia, will participate as speakers in two courses, so they will make four transoceanic trips (round trip) between the months of September and December. Llombart, Bach and Cabrejas are magistrates, while Carmona is a lawyer in the Administration of Justice.
To finance the travel, accommodation and remuneration of conference participants, the CGPJ approved an expenditure of 202,639.49 euros from the budgets of the Judicial School, the body where new judges are trained, and the body’s Judicial Service for International Relations. A CGPJ spokesperson explains that this is a “forecast” based on the ticket prices estimated by the travel agency and that, at the time of the broadcast, “the most economical rate” will be chosen.
However, the agreements approved by the Standing Committee guarantee that the trips can be made with maximum comfort. Thus, they authorize that the trips are made “in a class higher than the tourist class”; that the amount of accommodation provided for in the compensation regulation due to the service, which is approximately 150 euros per night, is exceeded; and that the limit of 40 euros set for taxi travel can be exceeded. The agreements specify that the expenditure budgets have been audited “in accordance with the Intervention” of the CGPJ.
The agreements also emphasize that the members and lawyers of the CGPJ who participate in this condition “will not receive” remuneration for their presentations, workshops and forums. But they specify that these are budgeted “to deal with possible changes of speakers or changes in the professional situation of one of the incumbents that could lead to their separation from the General Council of the Judiciary, in which case they would receive remuneration.” This is the case of the four former members, relieved on July 25 after the investiture of the new members of the college of judges. The presentations have a remuneration of 600 euros.
“Judicial tourism”
The appointment as lecturers in courses when they already knew that they were going to be dismissed from their positions after more than five years in office has created unease within the CGPJ. Different voices consider his choice to be “scandalous” and “unethical”. These sources understand that other profiles could have been chosen to ensure that the training activities could be carried out, but “without compromising the image of the body” by appointing members who already knew that they were going to be replaced or the general secretary himself, something that had never happened in the history of the organ. Other sources directly consider that most of the international activity of the CGPJ is “excessive” and even speak of “judicial tourism with little or no profit”.
Travel abroad by CGPJ members to participate in institutional events or make presentations involves significant outlays. For example, the largest expense of the current term is a six-day trip that former member Gerardo Martínez Tristán made to Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) in November 2019 to give several conferences in this same program carried out in collaboration with AECID. The cost was 7,398.04 euros. Precisely, on June 26, the Permanent Assembly, one day after the announcement of the agreement on the renewal of the body, agreed that Martínez Tristán would be relieved in a presentation that he would make in this same Colombian city a few days later, from June 2 to July 5, 2024, within the framework of this same project.
CGPJ sources explain that, in any case, the appointment of four former members of the body as interveners could be annulled by the current members of the body. However, for this purpose, a permanent Commission would have to be created that could annul these agreements if its members wished. The new members took office on 25 July and, for the time being, they have still not been able to agree on who will assume the presidency, which prevents the body from functioning with full powers.
