The step forward of the progressive vocal Concepción Sáez when resigning before the “unsustainable” situation of the judiciary has reopened the debate within the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to carry out a resignation en bloc to force Parliament to to renew the body, which has been in operation for more than four years.
According to sources from the institution to La Vanguardia, Sáez’s decision has been personal and individual, although he reopens the study to the possibility that at least the progressive group will resign from office, leaving the Council without the minimum quorum.
In fact, the progressive member Álvaro Cuesta formally requested this Thursday the acting president, Rafael Mozo, to open a debate in the next plenary session to be held on Thursday the 30th on the situation in which the body of the judges and the possibility of a block resignation of all members. He has also called for a meeting of the seven progressive members to analyze the situation.
The progressive bloc studied this possibility informally some time ago, although it was finally dismissed because at that time only five members supported the idea, insufficient to leave the plenary session without a minimum quorum.
The organ 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 then of the latter is that if they do not all resign, the Council can continue to function hand in hand with the conservative group. In addition, there is a 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, and in which it establishes that the CGPJ must remain in office while a new one is appointed, should be further studied. There is a fear that the departure of the majority of the members of the body could lead to criminal consequences for abandonment of public office. The debate is served. Some of the members, willing to resign, believe that a more in-depth analysis should be carried out because it is still nonsense that the previous president, Carlos Lesmes, could resign, as Sáez has announced, and yet if it is done en bloc may have repercussions for the members themselves. However, Sáez’s resignation is not yet effective because it must be approved in plenary session next Thursday, where it will be studied whether he can leave office, although the Lesmes precedent already exists.
The CGPJ has been in office for four years and there are no signs that there will be a renewal throughout this year. The lack of agreement between the two main political parties, PP and PSOE, who must designate the members through Parliament is leaving the judiciary in an “untenable” situation, as recognized by all 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. To try to force the renewal, the PSOE, with its government partner United We Can, reformed the LOPJ to prevent the Council from making appointments of magistrates while it is 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 higher courts of justice, and thus the PP would stop “kidnapping” the body that regulates the judges.
Carlos Lesmes repeatedly claimed the “urgency” of the renewal because he was leading the Supreme Court to chaos by not being able to appoint magistrates to fill empty positions due to retirement or death. However, in the absence of an agreement, last October he submitted his resignation. That coup de effect was thought enough to unlock the stage, something that did not happen and there is no forecast for it to happen this year
