Letter to the Members of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), European Parliament.

Dear Ms. Cavazzini,

I am writing to you concerning the lack of compliance with the Directive on Services and the Proportionality Directive, regarding the legal professions in Spain.

Surprisingly, the Kingdom of Spain is the one Member State of the European Union (*) where the Attorneys are prohibited from representing their clients in courts and the communications with them, while these functions remain exclusively reserved to a professional named “Procurador”.

This is not another case of disturbing freedom to provide services in the single market. With around EUR 100.000 million cumulated damages, its paramount importance derives from subverting the effective legal protection in all the fields covered by the Union law (Art. 19(2) TEU; Art. 47 CFREU), in a frame of high judicial corruption.

Acting as Treaties guardian, the European Commission verified that the Kingdom of Spain failed to incorporate the Directive on Services in this matter and opened infringement procedure under Art. 258 TFEU. Once the letter of formal notice and reasoned opinion was launched without reply, INFR(2015)4062, can bring the issue before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

However, after a dark tour of nine years, unexpectedly, like a stationary bicycle, the Commission gets off in the same place that went on without advancing anything, and it aims to close the procedure undermining the Directive on Services and the Directive of Proportionality.

In light of the aforementioned, I am asking for your support to avoid this breach of European law, protect the single market and the trust in the Union institutions.

Yours sincerely,

* Italy put an end to the “Procuratori legali”, attributing the activity of representation to the Attorney, Legge 24 febbraio 1997, n. 27. Soppressione dell’albo dei procuratori legali e norme in materia di esercizio della professione forense, and according to the Directive on Services, France eliminated the “Avoué” that still subsisted in the appeal courts by Loi n.º 2011-94, de 25 janvier 2011 (into force from 1 January 2012).

Recipients: Anna CAVAZZINI, Chair; Andrus ANSIP, Vice-Chair; Maria GRAPINI, Vice-Chair; Róża THUN UND HOHENSTEIN, Vice-Chair; SCHALDEMOSE; Coordinator; Christel ANDREAS SCHWAB, Coordinator and Raporteur of the Directive of Proportionality; Alex AGIUS SALIBA, Alessandra BASSO, Brando BENIFEI, Adam BIELAN, Hynek BLAŠKO, Biljana BORZAN, Vlad-Marius BOTOŞ, Markus BUCHHEIT, Deirdre CLUNE, David CORMAND, Dita CHARANZOVÁ, Carlo FIDANZA, Evelyne GEBHARDT, Alexandra GEESE, Sandro GOZI, Svenja HAHN, Virginie JORON, Eugen JURZYCA, Arba KOKALARI, Marcel KOLAJA, Kateřina KONEČNÁ, Andrey KOVATCHEV, Morten LØKKEGAARD, Antonius MANDERS, Beata MAZUREK, Karen MELCHIOR, Leszek MILLER, Dan-Ştefan MOTREANU, Anne-Sophie PELLETIER, Miroslav RADAČOVSKÝ, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Tomislav SOKOL, Kim Van SPARRENTAK, Ivan ŠTEFANEC, Tom VANDENKENDELAERE, Marion WALSMANN, Kosma ZŁOTOWSKI, Marco ZULLO.