The General Council of the Judiciary considers settled the possibility of appointing the two magistrates of the Constitutional Court (TC) that corresponds to it, after the resignation of its president Carlos Lesmes. Sources from both the conservative and progressive bloc see it as practically impossible to reach any agreement to comply with the constitutional mandate given the circumstances.
Now, all eyes are on the possible renewal of the CGPJ after the start of the talks announced by the Government and the PP as a reaction to the resignation of Lesmes. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, summoned the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo as soon as he heard the news of the resignation of the President of the Supreme Court and the CGPJ
The announcement of the beginning of these negotiations has stopped the other negotiations, those that were within the CGPJ to appoint two magistrates of the TC. The body’s conservative bloc had already shown little willingness to present a candidate. In this way they understood that the landing of three progressive magistrates to the court of guarantees (one of those appointed by the CGPJ and the two by the Government) could be avoided, or at least delayed, which would favor a change of trend in the body constitutional. Lesmes had forced this bloc to comply with the law and present a candidate before September 13, but he did not succeed.
During this month, several meetings have been held between the negotiating team made up of three conservative members and three other progressive members, without reaching any positive results. Lesmes had called an extraordinary plenary session for this Thursday, but sources from the body are already advancing that they will limit themselves to presenting the result of the negotiations to the plenary session. The Conservatives are now committed to waiting for a renewal and for the new Council to appoint them. Another thing will be if the negotiations break down again and then they will have to rethink the strategy.
These sources consulted acknowledge that Lesmes’ departure will harm the functioning of the body, which also has yet to present reports on several draft laws. For now, it is expected that several of them will be voted on in the October and November plenary sessions, such as the abortion law, the Criminal Procedure Law, the law on privileged information or the right of defense, and that they will go ahead as long as there is no political agreement and finally it is renewed.
The blockade maintained for four years by the PP and PSOE has led Lesmes to have to make the decision to leave. Council sources believe that the resignation has had an effect and trust that on this occasion the negotiations led by the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and Esteban González Pons, will come to fruition.
