Portugal is in the middle of the European table in number of magistrates, but there is a lack of professionals, guarantees justice agents
Portugal had, in 2018, 19.3 judges and 13.5 prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants – a value within the European average and above that of several southern European countries. Nonetheless, According to industry sources heard by the “Jornal de Notícias” (JN), there are lords of judges and prosecutors in functions in the country: the lack of professionals is a consequence of the unique characteristics of the national Public Ministry (MP), the lack of advisors in the courts and uneven distribution of judges by area of work.
“It is necessary to know that the MP in Portugal has more functions than in any other system”, says the president of the Union of Magistrates of the Public Ministry (SMMP), Adão Carvalho. The Superior Council of the Judiciary and the SMMP defend the opening of more vacancies in access to the profession. However, this may jeopardize the quality of future judges and prosecutors.
Manuel Soares, president of the Portuguese Judges Union Association, differs somewhat from this view. To JN intuitively” the perception of resources “are not being well intelligent”. “I’m not sure there’s a shortage of paintings. There may be a lack of management”, he defends.