Editorial: El País

• The government has approved a reform to adapt the Prosecutor's Office to the new Criminal Procedure Law, terminating Spain's unique trend of having judges, not prosecutors, handling criminal cases.
• The reform proposes non-renewable five-year terms for the attorney general, delinking it from legislatures and establishing restrictions on causes of dismissal.
• The reform aims to strengthen the independence of the prosecutor's office by preventing the Executive from interfering with or influencing the attorney general, including communication solely through public correspondence.
• Prosecutors may overrule the attorney general by a three-fifths majority, thus diminishing the attorney general's power.
• This reform, although driven by the current coalition government, is designed to define the functions of the Prosecutor's Office for decades.
• The reform aims to banish any shadow of doubt about interferences, especially in corruption cases, and thus halt the politicization of the Prosecutor's Office.
• The reform is expected to come into effect on January 1, 2028.

Conclusion: The reform is a necessary step towards bolstering the independence of the Prosecutor's Office and ridding it of politicization, which benefits all parties with governance ambitions. However, an intense debate and numerous technical objections are expected.

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