The Fifth Section issued the sentence on Catalan, which provoked demonstrations in favor of linguistic immersion.Albert Garcia
A few weeks ago, they knocked down the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE) that vetoed the most polluting cars in the Barcelona area and that was one of the star projects of Mayor Ada Colau.
They annulled the decree of the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, which delayed the regional elections on February 14, 2021. A year earlier, they concluded that the Catalan Government should teach at least 25% of teaching hours in Spanish in a ruling that has shaken linguistic immersion and has yet to be implemented.
In the past, they knocked down the largest privatization approved by the Generalitat, related to water management, in a decision with millionaire economic repercussions.
The five magistrates that make up the Fifth Section of the contentious-administrative chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) mark, despite themselves, the public agenda.
Although the names change over time, its current members are María Fernanda Navarro, José Francisco Sospedra, Pedro Luis García, Eduardo Paricio and Manuel Santos.
All of them make decisions from their offices on Via Laietana -in a building rented from La Caixa where the noise of traffic easily penetrates- that have special political, social and economic significance.
The reason for this unsought power is the result of the distribution of matters among the five sections of the chamber - a total of 26 magistrates - which decides on the resources that citizens, companies and entities present against the administration.
The list of tasks is immense, but in short the First is in charge of tributes;
the Second, on the environment and urban planning;
the Third, work, health and social security;
the Fourth, of public function;
and the Fifth, from a string of subjects (pharmacy, tourism, commerce, games and shows) with a final tagline that is key: “Other subjects”.
That expression, “other matters”, turns the Fifth Section into a sort of mixed bag where matters arrive that, although they are minimal in number (a third of the room's efforts are dedicated to tributes), have a great repercussion.
Javier Aguayo, president of the contentious-administrative chamber, assumes that the conflicts managed by the section generate more media impact and, also, more "social stress", a noise from which the magistrates try to isolate themselves.
“We decide on the performance of administrations with legal criteria, not opportunity.
The law prohibits us from ruling on aspects in which there is discretion;
We cannot, for example, decide whether to go 60 or 80 kilometers per hour on a road”,
A few days ago, after learning of the ruling on the ZBE - one of the most ambitious in Europe, with almost 100 square kilometers - the deputy mayor for Urban Planning of Barcelona, Janet Sanz, pointed to the court.
“The sentence incorporates more political and ideological elements than legal ones,” she said.
The resolution concludes that the ordinance approved by the council is not in accordance with the law, but does not question the need to act against pollution.
Without alluding to the particular case of polluting vehicles, Aguayo explains that, on occasions, the administration fails to comply with procedures that, if appealed by any party, cause the nullity of those acts.
And that nullity has consequences that, sometimes, are gigantic.
The magistrate admits that there is an internal legal debate within the Supreme Court about what should be the effects of a resolution declared null when it is only about formal defects.
The sentence on Catalan, issued by the Fifth Section in December 2020, also raised blisters.
When the Supreme Court declared it firm last January,
President
Pere Aragonès criticized that the magistrates did not limit themselves to rejecting this or that measure but that "it entered to legislate on percentages."
The sentence, which is pending execution - some entities have already requested it - establishes a minimum of 25% of Spanish, but does not say what the percentage to apply should be or the measures that the administration must adopt.
In other autonomous communities, education issues are "an absolutely residual matter," says Aguayo.
In Catalonia, on the other hand, the legal struggle over the use of official languages means that it has also become a central issue for the Fifth Section.
Although Aguayo does not belong to that section, he presided over the court that adopted both decisions (ZBE and Catalan).
The regulations provide that the president of the contentious-administrative chamber is present in matters of special political and social relevance.
For the same reason, Aguayo also participated in the decision to maintain the electoral call for February 14, 2021 to guarantee the right to vote.
What was annulled is again an administrative act (the government decree that suspended the elections), but the consequences go much further.
In the contentious field, justice is requested, that is, at the request of the parties.
In the ZBE, the appellants were guilds linked to the motor and carrier associations.
In Catalan, the Ministry of Education of the PP.
And in the suspension of 14-F, political parties and individuals.
Aguayo admits that "the judicialization of politics is a recurring phenomenon" that has contributed to giving prominence to the decisions of the room that he presides over.
“It was always an unknown area compared to the prison, which has always had more visibility,” says Aguayo, who also sees in this greater conflict a positive aspect of democratic progress.
"Citizens have more and more capacity to question the decisions of the administration and go to court."
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