The meeting held this morning in the Senate Room, closed to the public, aimed for each participant to present five proposals to improve the Portuguese judicial system.
In a statement accessed by Lusa, the president of the SFJ, Regina de Almeida Soares, argued that justice “does not fail due to a lack of competence or dedication from its professionals,” but rather due to factors like an outdated organizational model, a lack of resources, or shortcomings in technological advancement.
The SFJ’s priority list for justice reform includes, first and foremost, the creation of a superior justice council. This would be an independent body with financial and administrative autonomy, composed of judicial and public prosecution magistrates, court clerks, representatives designated by Parliament, and lawyers.
Regarding legal aid, currently managed by Social Security, the SFJ advocated that the decision to grant legal aid should rest with either the secretary of justice or the court clerk.
“The transfer of this responsibility to Social Security has had the opposite effect to what was intended: delays, duplication of procedures, suspended processes,” added the union.
For court staff, the union proposed, in addition to creating specialized support teams for the Public Prosecutor’s Office during inquiries, a “clear investment in the continuous training of court clerks.”
This meeting was an initiative of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, and the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, João Cura Mariano, announced by the parliamentary president last January at the opening of the judicial year.
