• The Minister presented the draft LOECrim in Congress and defended his regulation objectives to modernize Justice against immobility
• In his summary, he stated that 50% of the planned reforms have been completed, and expressed confidence that the pending drafts would be approved during the second half of the legislative term
The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, appeared today at his own request at the Justice Committee of the Congress of Deputies. Bolaños presented the draft Organic Law of Criminal Procedure and asked all the parliamentary groups for a constructive debate and high-mindedness to negotiate and complete the greatest transformation of justice in decades.
The Minister insisted now is the time for reforms, a historical opportunity to modernize Justice, increase the number of judges and prosecutors, improve their working conditions and update the criminal procedure after more than 140 years. These reforms, he noted, will not affect judicial independence, which is more than guaranteed.
Bolaños also summarized the ambitious legislative agenda driven by his Ministry, of which he considers 50% has been completed after two years of legislature with milestones such as the digitization decree and the Law of Efficiency, which modernizes a judicial organization of the 19th century.
About the pending reforms, he insisted that he shall continue working to pass crucial laws such as the new LOECrim or the Organic Law to Extend and Reinforce Judicial and Prosecutor Careers, which will create positions for 2,500 judges and prosecutors in three years. These projects, he stated, are also the result of the work of his predecessors, such as Ministers Ruiz Gallardón, Llop, Catalá and Caamaño.
A new LOECrim, more modern and with more guarantees
Bolaños centered his talk on the draft Organic Law of Criminal Procedure, which he considers indispensable to modernize criminal proceedings. The Minister pointed out it attributes investigations to the Prosecutor's Office under the oversight of a supervisory judge. A judge who must validate all investigation measures which may affect fundamental rights of those investigated, and who will decide on appeals against the main actions of the investigating prosecutor, which means endowing criminal proceedings with more guarantees.
He also said that this new model puts us on the level with countries in our European environment and is more respectful of constitutional provisions which attribute to judges the function of administering justice and to prosecutors that of pursuing their cases.
Moreover, he highlighted other novel elements in the text, such as new regulations on class actions, reconsidering their limits in accordance with the Constitution, and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, promotion of negotiated settlements, and the inclusion of new and advanced tools to fight against crime.
Finally, he indicated that the draft includes a reform of the Organic Statute of the Prosecutor's Office reinforcing its autonomy with measures such as separating the term of office of the State General Attorney from that of the Government’s.
