The acting president of the Supreme Court, Francisco Marín, did not mince words in his opening speech of the judicial year. He has described the situation of the Supreme Court in particular and of the judiciary in general due to the blockade maintained by politicians as “devastating.”
Before King Felipe VI, Marín has regretted the absence of political agreements to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which has been in office for almost five years and which is leading to a collapse in the Supreme Court and other jurisdictional bodies due to the lack of magistrate appointments.
“Not proceeding with the renewal of the CGPJ in a timely manner is still a way of curtailing the fullness of that independence, in the same way as maintaining the highest court of the nation in a critical situation, almost of assisted breathing” , he blurted out in his speech held in the Supreme Court itself and under the gaze of different political officials, including the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, and the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
During his words, Marín has put the spotlight on the attacks on judicial independence, in a legislature in which judicial decisions – such as those linked to the process – have been especially criticized and overturned with agreements such as pardons for the leaders of the process or the repeal of the crime of sedition. Added to this scenario is the possibility that an amnesty could be proposed for the events that occurred in Catalonia in 2017.
Marín points out that there are direct attacks coming from political leaders but others that are more subtle “and therefore more dangerous for the functioning of the democratic system because their pernicious effects are deployed not with respect to a specific judicial decision, but with respect to the functioning of the judicial power itself, with the effect, preconceived or not, of bringing him into disrepute, weakening him and, if necessary, diverting public attention from other issues.
Marín has focused his speech solely on denouncing the serious situation in which the judiciary finds itself, pointing out that it is the “weakest” power due to the “erosion” to which the political forces are subjecting it.
Likewise, he has clarified the “deep sadness” that he is supposed to intervene as acting president given the circumstances and after Carlos Lesmes had to resign just after his speech during the opening of the judicial year last year.
For Marín, this situation is affecting judicial independence and he points out as the first victim the group of “citizens, companies and private public institutions who are seeing how the effective protection of their rights enshrined in the Constitution is being diminished in an unacceptable way.” “. “A citizen who observes with perplexity how the political actors, the political representatives elected at the polls, show themselves incapable of reaching the necessary agreements to put an end to this situation,” he adds.
Currently, PSOE and PP must reach an agreement to renew the twenty members of the CGPJ, who have been in office since December 2018. However, the tension between the two political formations is making it impossible to comply with the constitutional mandate. Faced with this situation, Marín ended his speech with a clear plea: “The Supreme Court needs, as soon as possible, to return to normality, and it cannot do so without decisive political action to do so. It is the time for great politicians and great Democrats. It would be a huge disappointment to miss them.”
