The People's Party presented this Sunday, coinciding with the Day of Free Justice and the Duty Counsel, a proposal to demand that the Government modify the Free Legal Assistance Law, with the aim of reinforcing this service and guaranteeing "dignified" compensation for the professionals who provide legal assistance on duty.
In the registered text, the 'populars' emphasize that free justice is an "essential" public service and one of the pillars of the rule of law, by ensuring the defense of those who do not have sufficient economic resources and allowing the principle of equality before the law to be made real.
The PP reproaches the Executive for continuing to postpone the reform of the Free Legal Assistance Law and maintaining a system that, in its opinion, "does not adequately recognize" the work of lawyers and court officials nor respond to the historical demands of these groups.
Among the measures proposed, Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party proposes that free legal assistance, defense, and representation be compensated regardless of whether the justiciable's right to this service is subsequently confirmed or not. Furthermore, it urges the Ministry of Justice to immediately update the scales with which dignified compensation must be guaranteed to duty counsel lawyers, recalling that Bolaños' department has not effectively revised these scales since 2003, which has generated an "accumulated deficit" and a "loss of purchasing power close to 40%".
The initiative also includes simplifying the procedures for the recognition of the right to free justice by professional associations and implementing a monthly payment system that avoids delays in payments to both associations and professionals.
Likewise, the PP warns that the number of lawyers assigned to the duty counsel has fallen by 14.14% in the last five years, a reduction that it links to the absence of effective measures by the Government and which, in its opinion, places the system "on the verge of collapse".
A basic pillar of democracy
On social networks, the Deputy Secretary for Institutional Regeneration, Cuca Gamarra, has highlighted "the work and dedication" of the almost 40,000 duty counsel lawyers, whose task constitutes "a basic pillar of democracy".
For this reason, he defends "investing more and better" in Justice against Bolaños' "cuts" to the courts, and claims free justice and the duty lawyer because it is "defending freedom and equality before the law".