Episcopal Co‑Prince names Víctor Torre de Silva to Andorra’s Constitutional Court

The episcopal Co‑Prince of Andorra, Bishop Josep‑Lluís Serrano i Pentinat, has appointed Víctor Torre de Silva y López de Letona as a magistrate of the Constitutional Court, the Diocese reported after the nomination was published in the Official Bulletin of the Principality of Andorra (BOPA). He replaces Josep‑Delfí Guàrdia Canela, whose non‑renewable eight‑year term ended on 24 November.

Torre de Silva was born in Bilbao in 1966. He earned a law degree from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1989, receiving the extraordinary and national prize for his class. He completed an LLM at Harvard University in 1993–94 with a La Caixa scholarship and obtained a doctorate in Administrative Law from the Complutense in 2012, graduating Excellent cum laude and receiving an extraordinary doctoral prize.

A career public lawyer, Torre de Silva qualified as a Letrado (legal counsel) to Spain’s Council of State in 1991 and currently serves there as Letrado Mayor (senior legal officer). In government he was director of the cabinet to the presidency of the Congress of Deputies from 1996 to 2000 and undersecretary at the Ministry of Defence from 2000 to 2004. He chaired the Observatory of Military Life from 2013 to 2018 and has represented public institutions on the boards of companies including Construcciones Aeronáuticas, RENFE and Puertos del Estado.

Torre de Silva has an extensive academic record, teaching at the Complutense University and IE University and, since 2023, at Cunef Universidad. He has also taught courses abroad, including in El Salvador and at Portugal’s Catholic University. He is the author of Responsabilidad patrimonial de la Administración en materia de seguridad ciudadana (2013) and has published articles in national and international law journals. He is a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation and a member of its Section of European Union Law. His honours include the Cross of Police Merit with white badge and the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic.

Torre de Silva joins a Constitutional Court chamber that already includes Joan Manel Abril, Pere Pastor and Jean‑Yves Caullet. Some commentators and media have read the episcopal Co‑Prince’s choice as signalling a rightward shift, citing Torre de Silva’s professional links to conservative political circles and his association with figures such as Federico Trillo; others have contrasted him with his predecessor, who had longstanding ties to Andorra and was reported to have been recommended by associates of the Pujol family.