The Government and the PP meet again today in Brussels with the mediation of the European Commission to unblock the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), whose mandate has expired for more than five years. The protagonists will once again be, as they were on January 31, the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, on behalf of the Executive, the institutional vice-secretary general of the PP, Esteban González Pons, and the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders, who were supposed to meet last Monday, but the popular negotiator fell ill with influenza A.
Reynders quotes both politicians with the aim of moving forward, because the clock is ticking: the European Commission accepted the challenge of helping to unblock the CGPJ, but set a deadline of two months. The first meeting lasted 90 minutes and was celebrated by both parties, although with nuances.
Bolaños expressed his conviction that the extended hand of Brussels may be “the last opportunity” to recover “the normality that the Council needs.” For his part, González Pons admitted that he was “very pessimistic” about the possibilities of reaching an agreement because, as he said, “the first thing the Government sacrifices is the independence of the judiciary,” although he added that, despite everything, is “committed” to a solution. The fact that Brussels reunites González Pons and Bolaños is a success in itself after years of blockade.
The Commission demands to “proceed as a priority” to the renewal of the governing body of the judges “and begin, immediately afterwards,” the “process” for the reform of its appointment system to align with European standards that defend a choice between peers. The point of friction between both parties is that while the Government urges to renew the body and then “talk about other matters”, in the words of Bolaños, the PP demands that the agreement to renew the Council be linked to the reform of the election system. of the members to “deepen judicial independence.”