Dolores Delgado, during the act of her inauguration as State Attorney General, accompanied by Cándido Conde-Pumpido. Fernando Alvarado (EFE)
The PSOE's attempt to shield the professional future of the state attorney generals, starting with the current one, Dolores Delgado, has reopened a debate that had already been raised in recent years, but had never led to anything.
The Prosecutor's Office has chosen to stay out of the controversy, although sources close to this body maintain that the measure proposed by the Socialists reinforces the guarantee of independence because it removes the fear of future reprisals that harm the career of whoever occupies the position of Attorney General .
These sources also argue that the promotion to courtroom prosecutor of lower-ranking prosecutors who have held the position of attorney general is a "consolidated practice" that the PSOE amendment would only raise to the rank of law.
This argument is supported by the two precedents of prosecutors who, like Delgado, jumped to the Attorney General's Office from a second-rate position and were promoted to room prosecutor (the highest category) within a few months of leaving office.
It happened in 1997 with Juan Ortiz Úrculo, who just a year earlier had been the first attorney general appointed by José María Aznar.
After being dismissed, he returned to his position as prosecutor before the Constitutional Court, but five months later he was promoted to courtroom prosecutor at the proposal of his substitute in the Attorney General's Office, Jesús Cardenal.
He had also come to the position from a second category position (Chief Prosecutor of the Basque Country), but after his resignation he retired as a prosecutor and went on to practice law.
History repeated itself in 2020 with María José Segarra, attorney general of the first Pedro Sánchez government.
When she was replaced, she had to return to her position at the Seville Prosecutor's Office, but months later her successor promoted her to courtroom prosecutor with the support of all the elected members of the Fiscal Council, including those of the conservative Association of Prosecutors .
Of the 16 attorneys general since 1978, only Ortiz Úrculo, Cardenal, Segarra and Delgado were second-rate prosecutors when they were appointed to that position.
To be a general prosecutor, the law does not require you to be a career prosecutor, but rather to be a Spanish jurist of recognized prestige with more than 15 years of effective practice in your profession.
There have been three lawyers (Juan Manuel Fanjul, José María Gil-Albert and Leopoldo Torres), a judge (Eligio Hernández) and a prosecutor (Javier Moscoso) with a long political career;
five Supreme Court justices (Luis Antonio Burón, Carlos Granado, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, José Manuel Maza and Julián Sánchez Melgar);
and two who were already courtroom prosecutors when they were appointed (Eduardo Torres-Dulce and Consuelo Madrigal).
The case of Moscoso, attorney general between 1986 and 1990, does illustrate in some way the problems to which the Prosecutor's Office and the Government allude to justify the measure proposed by the PSOE.
Moscoso was a career prosecutor, but he held political positions, first with the UCD and then with the PSOE, where he became the prime minister of the Felipe González presidency.
Later he was a member of the General Council of the Judiciary and when at the end of his mandate he tried to return to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, where he had obtained his last position, the PP vetoed him three times despite having been proposed by the then attorney general, Jesús Cardenal, with the support of the Fiscal Council.
Since the PSOE proposal became known, the Government has insisted that the measure responds to the recommendations set out in the reports of the group against corruption of the Council of Europe (Greco).
These reports (the last one was published this week) do not make any explicit recommendation about a possible shielding of the professional future of the person who occupies the General Prosecutor's Office, but both the Government and the Public Ministry maintain that a measure such as the one proposed in the socialist amendment it does go along the lines of implementing "additional guarantees" in the Spanish Prosecutor's Office to protect it from "undue interference", as El Greco requests.
“Greco encourages the authorities to think deeply about this, among other things,
Within the tax race, the socialist initiative has generated conflicting opinions.
Members of the Progressive Union of Prosecutors (UF) defend the initiative, although they do not agree that it has been promoted via an amendment to another law and without giving it publicity.
The Association of Prosecutors, for its part, charged this Thursday against the proposal, which they consider a "direct imposition of the Government in the formation of the first category of the prosecutor's career."
The superior prosecutor of Madrid, Almudena Lastra, also spoke on the subject, who assured that there are "more urgent" issues that should be addressed before considering the promotion of the attorney general.
