The Spanish Desk is headed by José de la Mata Amaya, who is the National Member for Spain since November 2020. In December 2024, Mr De la Mata Amaya was elected Vice-President of Eurojust.
In 2025, the Spanish Desk was involved in 953 new cases, 91 coordination meetings, 8 coordination centres and 15 joint investigation teams.
José de la Mata Amaya was appointed National Member for Spain in November 2020, and elected Vice-President of Eurojust in December 2024. Mr de la Mata entered the judiciary in Spain in 1987. He has been a member of the prosecutor’s body, serving in several judicial positions in the criminal jurisdiction, including as investigative judge in Algeciras and Cádiz, as judge in criminal trials in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the Court of Appeals of Las Palmas and Madrid, and in the High Court of Justice of Madrid. From 2015 to 2020, he served as judge of the Central Investigative Court No 5 of the National Court.
Mr de la Mata has held the positions of lawyer of the General Council of the Judiciary (1993-2001), where he was Director of its Continuing Training and International Relations Departments, lawyer in the service of the Constitutional Court (2003-2009), and General Director of Modernisation in the Ministry of Justice and Secretary-General of the Administration of Justice (2009-2011), where he promoted the creation of the International Legal Cooperation Network of Lawyers of the Judicial Administration.
As contact point for Spain in the Network of National Experts on Joint Investigation Teams (the JITs Network) since 2017, Mr de la Mata has engaged in intense international activity as a consultant, expert and director on projects funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation AECID, UNDP, IADB, WB, EU and others.
Ms María de las Heras García has been appointed Deputy National Member for Spain in August 2026.
Mrs Elisabet Castello is Assistant to the National Member for Spain since February 2021.
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New cases (total) | 515 | 618 | 667 | 818 | 878 | 997 | 961 | 953 |
Coordination meetings (initiating and/or participating) | 72 | 93 | 61 | 72 | 79 | 77 | 94 | 91 |
Coordination centres (organising and/or participating) | 4 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 8 |
Joint investigation teams (newly signed and/or ongoing) | 12 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 18 | 18 | 15 |
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union