The Justice Minister Paula Teixeira da Cruz claimed today that she could produce a 15% increase in the current number of judges and a 19% increase in state prosecutors.
The minister was in parliament today explaining her estimates which she claimed will mean an increase in the "stability of the judiciary."
Paula Teixeira da Cruz was taking part in the discussions over the 2014 state budget and aimed to calm the tension recently stirred up by pesky trade unions which claimed there would be a decrease in efficiency commensurate with any decrease in funding.
The minister said the current number of judges will rise from 1,054 to between 1,086 and 1,218. Public prosecutors will rise from the current 1,053 to between 1,200 and 1,251.
Teixeira da Cruz outlined problem areas such as processing debt collection and foreclosures, often seen as one of the most seriously inefficient areas of Portugal’s justice system to the cheery delight of many of those waiting in the queue to be dealt with, and said that it was possible to complete 334,000 cases from the massive backlog of 1,375,000 cases - the saddening result of years of austerity.
With regard to insolvency proceedings she said that at the end of the second quarter of 2013 the number of cases submitted has declined by 2.3% over the same period last year and 5% more cases has been concluded in the courts.
The 2014 budget for justice is to drop by €103 million to €1.3 billion, "This budget is a demanding one, but we have shown in the past that we know how to manage with less," said Teixeira da Cruz in a statement almost guaranteed to keep her in post.
MP João Oliveira expressed concern about cutting the 2014 justice budget, warning that these cuts are made "at the expense of the operation of justice" and he expressed concern about the budget for the Supreme Administrative Court, the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, as well as the budget of the Polícia Judiciária where budget cuts, in his view, are "worrying."
