Spain Announces Largest Judicial and Prosecutorial Recruitment in History. Spanish authorities have launched a record-breaking competition for 700 judicial and prosecutorial positions. The decision comes amid staffing shortages and a court reform. The new recruitment drive will begin in the fall.
Spain is launching the largest recruitment campaign for judges and prosecutors in the country's history: an official call has been published for 700 new positions, with 500 for judges and 200 for prosecutors. The process will begin in October and marks a key stage in judicial reform aimed at eliminating structural vacancies and strengthening the work of the courts.
According to the Boletín Oficial del Estado, the competition includes 375 positions for judges and 200 for prosecutors, which will be filled through the traditional opposition process. Another 125 judge positions will open under the so-called 'fourth round'—a competition for experienced lawyers with at least ten years of professional experience. This decision is the result of an agreement between the Ministry of Justice and the Consejo General del Poder Judicial.
The scale of recruitment is unprecedented: the number of new positions is more than three times last year's figure and twice the average over recent years. For comparison, between 2012 and 2016, only 350 such positions were announced. Since 2018, authorities have already opened 2,515 positions for judges and prosecutors—three times more than during the two terms of Mariano Rajoy’s government.
The reason for such large-scale expansion is an acute shortage of personnel. According to the Consejo General del Poder Judicial, by the end of 2025 the country will lack 260 judges and magistrates: there are only 5,643 current specialists for 5,903 positions. The outlook for the coming years is also bleak: each year, 130–150 people will leave the system due to retirement or other reasons. To compensate for these losses and fill new vacancies, at least 370 new judges will be required annually over the next decade.
The authorities hope that increasing the staff will not only fill current gaps, but also strengthen the work of the new courts of instance that began operating last year, as well as expand the Audiencia Nacional, the Supreme Court, and regional courts. According to the Ministry of Justice, this recruitment alone will increase the number of judges by 8.5%—more than in the entire last decade.
A key role in the reform is played by the new law on judicial service efficiency, which changes the structure of the courts: instead of separate judicial offices, collegial bodies with unified technical support are now formed. This approach makes it possible to create new positions without opening full-fledged courts, cutting costs by almost five times—to 100,000 euros per role.
The prosecutor's office staff will also grow by 7.1%—from 2,804 to 3,004 people. In the past 20 years, more than 100 new prosecutor positions have never been created in a single year. The distribution of vacancies will depend on the workload and population in each region, as well as proposals from the Consejo General del Poder Judicial and the Fiscalía General del Estado.
Of the 500 new judicial positions, 363 are allocated to trial courts, two to the Central Tribunal, and 85 to collegiate bodies: 71 for provincial courts, seven for the superior courts of the autonomous communities, four for the Audiencia Nacional, and three for the Supreme Court. Most of the new positions will be established in Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid, and the Valencian Community.
Judicial reform and staffing changes are taking place in parallel with other large-scale regional projects. For example, the authorities in Valencia recently allocated 180 million euros for school modernization and combating heat— details on regional initiatives can be found in our report.
For reference: Spain is among the EU countries with a relatively low number of judges per capita. According to the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, the EU average is 21 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, while Spain has about 12. This creates additional pressure on the system and explains the need for such large-scale recruitment. The new measures are expected to speed up case processing and reduce the workload on current professionals.
