The step forward of the progressive member Concepción Sáez after resigning due to the “unsustainable” situation of the judiciary has reopened the debate within the General Council of the Judicial Power (CGPJ) to carry out a resignation en bloc to force the Parliament that renews the body, which has been in place for more than four years.
As sources from the institution explain to La Vanguardia, Sáez’s decision has been personal and individual, although it reopens the study to the possibility that at least the progressive group resigns from its position and leaves the Council without the minimum quorum.
In fact, the progressive member Álvaro Cuesta just yesterday formally requested the acting president, Rafael Mozo, to open a debate in the next plenary session to be held on Thursday the 30th about the situation in which the body finds itself of the judges and the possibility of a collective resignation of all members. He has also demanded a meeting of the seven progressive members to analyze the situation.
The progressive bloc informally studied this possibility some time ago, although it was ultimately rejected because at the time only five members supported the idea, an insufficient number to leave the plenary without a minimum quorum.
The body can function with a minimum of 10 members plus the president. Currently, the plenary is made up of 10 conservative members, six progressives and the president, also a progressive. The fear of the latter is that if they do not all resign, the Council can continue to function through the conservative group. In addition, there is the doubt that he can resign en bloc and leave the Council without functioning. Sources from the institution believe that the latest reform of the organic law of the Judiciary (LOPJ), approved in 2021, should be studied more thoroughly, which stipulates that the CGPJ must remain in office while designate a new one. There is also the fear that the departure of the majority of members of the body could lead to criminal consequences for abandoning public office. The debate is served. Some of the members, ready to resign, believe that a more in-depth analysis should be done because it is still nonsense that the previous president, Carlos Lesmes, could resign, as Sáez has announced and that instead if it is done en masse this fact may have repercussions for the members themselves. However, Sáez’s resignation is not yet effective because it must be approved at next Thursday’s plenary, where it will be studied whether he can leave the position, even if the Lesmes precedent already exists.
The lack of agreement between the two main political parties, PP and PSOE, which must appoint the members through Parliament is leaving the judiciary in an “unsustainable” situation as recognized by all the members of the body.
During these years the PP, first with Pablo Casado and now with Alberto Núñez Feijóo, have repeatedly refused to reach an agreement with the socialists to fulfill the constitutional mandate to renew the body every five years. In an attempt to force its renewal, the PSOE, with its partner in the Government Unides Podemos, reformed the LOPJ to prevent the Council from appointing magistrates while in office. The idea of ??the Government is that in this way the conservative majority of the body would stop “placing” its magistrates in key courts such as the Supreme Court or the superior courts of justice, and thus the PP would stop “kidnapping” the body that regulates judges.
Carlos Lesmes claimed on several occasions the “urgency” of the renewal because he was bringing the Supreme Court into chaos, because he cannot appoint magistrates to fill vacancies due to retirement or death. However, due to the lack of agreement, he submitted his resignation in October. It was thought that this impact would be enough to unlock the stage, which did not happen and is not expected to happen this year.
