The Spanish Government has dismissed the liaison magistrate coordinating judicial cooperation with France and Switzerland in the middle of the criminal investigation into former Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, citing a “loss of confidence”.
Silvia Martínez Cantón, who had held the post since July 22, 2024, was notified of her removal in mid-April by Eva María Pérez Martínez, Director-General of International Legal Cooperation, acting on instructions from the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, headed by Félix Bolaños.
The Ministry signed off on the resolution to replace her shortly afterwards. The new vacancy was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), Spain’s official gazette, on May 7, 2026.
The role is regarded as pivotal in the Plus Ultra inquiry. The liaison magistrate ensures fast-track cooperation between Spain, France and Switzerland on money laundering, corruption, organised crime and tax fraud. The criminal probe against Zapatero, the first imputation of a former Spanish prime minister in democratic Spain, stems from a 2024 complaint by the Fiscalía Anticorrupción (the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office) that was prompted by judicial cooperation requests from French and Swiss authorities. They had detected suspected money-laundering operations tied to the €53 million state bailout of Spanish airline Plus Ultra approved by the Council of Ministers in March 2021.
Martínez Cantón’s mandate had been set at five years with a minimum two-year stint, though she was removed almost four months short of that floor. Sources said the dismissal was tied to her handling of sensitive Plus Ultra material — which she had no duty to share with the executive — and to the government’s search for a candidate more aligned with its interests. Sources close to the Justice Ministry told the outlet that Bolaños had not been personally behind the decision and that liaison magistrates depend on the Directorate-General for International Affairs.
The departing magistrate has been kept on until July 22, 2026, to honour the minimum tenure set in the original resolution. The government has not yet named a successor. Martínez Cantón joined a European Commission expert subgroup on the Brussels Regulation a month ago in a separate, unpaid advisory capacity.
In a parallel move, the government has stripped the new post of its accreditation to Switzerland, restricting the next holder’s remit to France alone. Partido Popular (PP) deputy secretary Cuca Gamarra registered 11 parliamentary questions on May 12, 2026, asking ministers whether the redesign was linked to the magistrate occasionally coordinating cross-border probes “without the central authority’s knowledge”. The PP also demanded the publication of liaison-magistrate statistics, which have not been released since 2023.
Zapatero has been ordered to appear before Audiencia Nacional judge José Luis Calama on June 2, 2026, to answer charges of involvement in a criminal organisation, influence peddling and document forgery. He denies any wrongdoing.
