The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has returned to the scene after almost four months of public ostracism following the announcement by a member, Concepción Saéz, proposed by Esquerra Unida, to resign due to the “unsustainable” situation ” of the judiciary, and specifically of the interim scenario that the body is experiencing. During the last few days there have been a series of decisions within the institution in an attempt to force the PSOE and the PP to reach an agreement once and for all to renew the twenty members. Today, neither party is moving. The election year situation, with which everyone is playing, makes it impossible for anyone not to take a step forward.
However, socialist sources suspect that behind these latest movements there is an interest of Unides Podemos to move the vesper and obtain some income in the election of members. While the popular people consider that behind this act of resignation en bloc is the hand of Moncloa to put all the pressure on the PP so that it renews the body at the gates of the presidency of the Council of the European Union by of Spain, in the second semester of this year.
Two weeks ago Sáez informed the acting president, Rafael Mozo, of his intention to resign through a letter, which was released on Wednesday. The communication caught the rest of the members of the Council by surprise, who were unaware of this decision. The next day, the progressive member and ex-MP of the PSOE, Álvaro Cuesta, moved the card and asked the president to raise in the plenary session that is being held this week the need to open a debate on the possibility of a resignation en bloc to force the PP and the PSOE.
Rafael Mozo made three decisions, at Cuesta’s request. The first: holding a meeting of progressive members the following day, that is to say Friday, as a demonstration of the start of a serious debate on the option to stand up. The thesis of the progressives is that if the seven members of their string resign plus the one proposed by the PNB, Enrique Lucas, the Council would be left without the minimum quorum to be able to continue functioning. In this first meeting it was already seen, however, that the option of resignation en bloc is not viable due to the doubts that there may be criminal liability for abandoning public office.
The conservatives are clear that they will not resign due to the suspicions that this is an attempt at political pressure and a game of distraction due to the fact that it occurred on the same day that the motion of censure was voted against the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and that the director general of the Civil Guard María Gámez resigned due to a corruption case involving her husband.
Mozo’s other decision was to hold a new meeting on Tuesday of the progressive group, in addition to opening the debate at the plenary session on Thursday, where it will be decided whether Sáez’s resignation will be accepted. While the gunpowder is lit again in the CGPJ, the PSOE and the PP remain impassive. “It’s a dead debate”, they maintain on both sides, even if they recognize that these latest events have revived it. Both one and the other take it for granted that until the next general elections take place, the CGPJ will continue in office, despite the wear and tear it means to the judiciary. The Supreme Court has fewer and fewer magistrates because it cannot make appointments while the Council is in office, a situation that will worsen in the coming months due to the upcoming retirements that cannot be covered.
The socialists believe that Alberto Núñez Feijóo cannot afford to reach an agreement with the PSOE without this giving votes to Vox, who will use it for their own benefit. For these, the PP has a concept of patrimonial justice. “They believe that Spain is theirs and when they don’t rule, they don’t follow the democratic rules”, affirm these socialist sources.
However, from the PP they point out that the renewal of the CGPJ is no longer on the Government’s agenda since January, when Cándido Conde-Pumpido was appointed president of the Constitutional Court. In his opinion, he only wanted to renew the TC to obtain a progressive majority that would give the green light to all his laws, as has happened with abortion, euthanasia or the Celaá law.
