At the opening of the judicial year of the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid the regional government highlighted a significant staffing shortage in the region’s justice system and called for additional posts. The event took place on 28 September 2026 at the court’s main premises. Those present included the regional minister for the Presidency, Justice and Local Administration, Miguel Ángel García Martín, and the court’s acting president, María Aurora de la Cueva, alongside numerous representatives of the judiciary.
The immediate context was the Memoria 2025 of the TSJM. It puts the region’s need at 158 additional judicial posts. The ratio of judges is said to be 10.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, below the Spanish average of 11.2. The Community of Madrid used these figures to call for the gaps to be filled quickly, so that cases can be concluded faster and backlogs kept in check.
The figures and findings come from the court’s annual report and the regional government’s statement. The Memoria 2025 points to structural pressures on Madrid’s courts. In addition to vacancies, an above-average proportion of temporary cover makes operations more difficult. Workloads are shifting across several jurisdictions, further complicating planning. According to the TSJM, national reforms to improve the efficiency of the justice system are also making changes to working arrangements more difficult. The regional government sees these points as evidence for a broader staffing expansion, covering judges as well as service and administrative staff.
However, the power to create new judicial posts is limited: decisions on staffing levels and the composition of the judiciary across Spain lie with the state authorities and the Consejo General del Poder Judicial. No commitments on this were announced at the event. TSJM representatives made clear that a prompt remedy depends above all on filling vacant posts quickly.
The figures and staffing needs cited here come from the TSJM’s Memoria 2025 and the accompanying communications from the Comunidad de Madrid. The regional government’s political assessments should be distinguished from these factual details. Whether the state will create additional judicial posts, and when they will be filled, remains open. What is clear is that the courts in the Madrid region operate with a ratio of judges below the national average, and that the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid explicitly identified the need for more staff for 2025.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).