During the official ceremony in the audience hall of the Zarzuela Palace, Teresa Peramato took over the leadership of the Attorney General’s Office after receiving the approval of the Council of Ministers and pledging allegiance to the Spanish Constitution. According to the original media, the event was attended by King Felipe VI. the competent authorities of the State and it took place in a context marked by the institutional crisis resulting from the conviction of his predecessor Álvaro García Ortiz, whose resignation led to considerable instability in the State Ministry. In this scenario, Peramato takes on the task of restoring trust and internal stability to the institution amid an intense debate about the independence of the judiciary.
As the source detailed, Teresa Peramato appeared before the Congressional Judiciary Committee before her inauguration. In his speech, he expressed his intention to “heal” the situation in the Prosecutor’s Office, marred by the recent conviction of García Ortiz by the Supreme Court. The new Attorney General expressed her commitment to restoring institutional stability, but refrained from commenting on the People’s Party’s criticism of the court ruling and limited herself to the statement: “I do not make any assessments,” the publication said. This position avoided inflaming the political debate and focused attention on the goal of restoring internal trust in the prosecutor’s office.
The original media said that the inauguration was marked by an adjustment to the usual customs: Peramato announced the promise formula before the king, the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, and the president of the Supreme Court and the General Council of Justice, Isabel Perelló. During the event, the Attorney General did not rely on the constitutional text, but took the oath on a facsimile of the 1978 Spanish Constitution, opened by Article 124, which regulates the role of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in defending civil rights, legality and ensuring the independence of the judiciary. The protocol event was attended by institutional figures, including the Minister of Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, the President of the Congress, Francisca Armengol, the President of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, and the Chairman of the Royal House, Camilo Villarino, according to the source.
Peramato’s assumption of office came after the resignation of García Ortiz, who was sentenced to two years’ disqualification for disclosing personal data about Alberto González Amador, partner of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid. This sentence implies a crisis in financial governance and underlines the urgency of returning to a situation of normality and trust in the financial function, according to the media. Peramato herself highlighted this challenge when she referred to the need to restore institutional stability that has been affected by recent events. During his assessment before the aforementioned parliamentary commission, questions such as his suitability, his professional experience and the way he will deal with the internal crisis caused by the departure of García Ortiz were raised.
Teresa Peramato’s professional profile, detailed by the media, includes three decades of experience in a tax career in which she held positions in the public prosecutor’s offices of Tenerife, Valladolid and Barcelona before settling in Madrid. Since 2005, she has worked as an assistant prosecutor in cases of gender-based violence, an area that has marked much of her career and which she aims to integrate into the new institutional approaches that she will promote from the Attorney General’s Office. The continuity of this specialized approach strengthens Peramato’s commitment to the protection of fundamental rights related to equality and the defense of the most vulnerable sectors, as noted in various forums and previous interventions published by the source.
According to the media, during the inauguration ceremony, Peramato reiterated his promise to maintain “loyalty to the king” and enforce the Constitution as the fundamental norm of the state. Article 124 of the Constitution, on the basis of which the law was adopted, provides for the promotion of judicial actions in defense of legality, public interests and protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as monitoring the independence of judicial authorities, as the main tasks of the public prosecutor’s office.
Peramato’s access to the Attorney General’s Office coincided with a moment of growing media and political attention on the transparency in the management of personal data and the independent functioning of the public ministry, issues that motivated the dismissal of García Ortiz. According to the information available, the new Attorney General has opted for reserved institutional communication, avoiding political statements about disagreements between the government, the opposition and the courts, and concentrating on presenting her technical qualifications and professional history related to Salamanca and her specialization in gender-based violence.
The Zarzuela Protocol Law reflects the formality and legitimacy that a change of this type requires in the structure of the Spanish justice system. The presence of representatives of the executive, judicial and legislative branches underlines the interest and institutional importance attached to the transfer of responsibilities in the Attorney General’s Office, the media said. This succession comes against the backdrop of pressure on the role of the public prosecutor’s office and its autonomy from political powers.
During her parliamentary intervention, the Attorney General explained her plan to consolidate internal stability, restore relationships of trust with the judicial authorities and strengthen compliance with the principle of legality in all actions. The area of gender-based violence remains one of the primary focuses of his program, reflecting the specialization that has defined his professional practice and which, according to the media, will influence the future direction of the State Department.
The development of this institutional process highlights the need to restore legitimacy both internally and with public opinion after a period of questions and tensions within the Prosecutor’s Office. The choice of Peramato, according to the government, represents the commitment to guarantee experience and technical accuracy at a time when the independence and transparency of judicial and tax measures are under intense scrutiny, as the original media concluded when documenting the change of ownership of the management body of the Spanish Public Ministry.
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