Case : C-49/18. Escribano Vindel.

Descriptors:  Salary reduction in the national civil service/ Judicial Independence.

Mr. Vindel, a senior judge in Barcelona, filed a complaint against his 2011 salary reduction approved by the national government through the General Budget Law (Article 31.1). Despite the decision could seem prima facie as a neutral administrative act, the claimant adduced discriminatory effects of the reduction; specifically, for age reasons. In his opinion, the reduction would have been disproportionately superior for senior judges who traditionally occupied positions with less substantial salaries. In that sense, he considered that Spanish government infringed article 19 (1) TEU and article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Regarding judicial independence, the Court of Justice of European Union quote the precedent C-64/16, case Associação Sindical juízes portugueses, dismissing the claim of discrimination. The rejection of Mr. Vindel claims was based on the fact that the Spanish government approved a general reduction for all judicial public servants salaries, not with the intention to reduce their independence, but with the objective to fulfill the European economic austerity mandates and achieve a drastic public deficit suppression.

Therefore, the Court of Justice of European Union dictated that no infringement of judicial independence regulated in article 19 TEU occurred, and neither existed an act based on age discrimination reasons, forbidden by article 21 of the Charter.

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