While half of E enjoyed the festive bridge, the political and media bubble did not grant any truce even on the anniversary of the Constitution. The controversial renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the controversial amnesty law proposal and the abrupt break between Podemos and Sumar, made official the day before, yesterday monopolized public statements and private conversations during the celebration of the anniversary of the Magna Carta in Congress.
Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo did not greet each other, they did not try to at least, with the excuse of the crowding of guests and the consequent difficulty of movements in a hall of lost steps full after the speech of the president of the Congress, Francina Armengol – who was again questioned by the Popular Party -, during the traditional small groups with the press.
The President of the Spanish Government, in a conversation with journalists, confirmed the purpose of calling the leader of the PP to a meeting, “before the end of the year”, to try to agree on three issues, in his opinion, priorities in this new legislature, for which the consensus of the two major parties is essential.
Firstly, the renewal of the CGPJ, which has just reached five years with the expired mandate. Then, also a new regional financing system, which, in turn, has been out of date for nine years. And, finally, a timely reform of the Constitution, to eliminate the term diminished in reference to the disabled.
After learning of the proposal, Feijóo replied to reporters that whenever the president calls him he will go to the meeting, but he was upset by the manner and warned that he would prefer to know Sánchez’s intentions, and the agenda of a possible meeting, directly and not from the press.
However, before the event began, the president of the Spanish Government and the leader of the PP had already reiterated their opposing positions on the renewal of the judges’ governing body. Feijóo, who denounced “the continuous attack on the institutions” by Sánchez, and in this case his attempt to “control the Judiciary”, warned him that he is “sliding down a very dangerous slope, which is the tacit repeal of the Constitution”.
And he rejected Sánchez’s claim to renew the CGPJ without, at the same time, reforming the organic law of the Judiciary to modify the system of electing members and for the judges themselves to elect them. “I cannot be an accomplice in the control of State institutions, under no circumstances”, alleged Feijóo, in defense of judicial independence.
Sánchez, in turn, urged Feijóo to renew the CGPJ, before debating legislative reforms. “Before devotion, there is obligation”, asked the leader of the PP, resorting to the proverb. “At the beginning of this legislature, the excuses have run out”, he pleaded.
The head of the Executive was willing to seal an agreement on the subject with Feijóo. But he warned: “I will not accept conditions”. And he insisted on expressing the “clear and crystal clear” position of the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, that the CGPJ should first be renewed, and only then should a reform of the electoral system be debated.
“I command the PP to comply with its constitutional mandate to renew the CGPJ this legislature”, he asked. Although without many expectations, since the PSOE deduced from Feijóo’s words that “it remains entrenched”.
Sánchez and Feijóo also did not agree on the assessment of the words of the president of the Congress, the socialist Francina Armengol, at the event. The president of the Spanish Government celebrated it as “a committed speech”. But the leader of the PP again showed misgivings, in front of a paragraph that his team interpreted as a defense of the right to self-determination. Armengol, during the speech, celebrated the territorial model of the eighth title of the Constitution, which “leaves open the way to advance in the process of bringing decision-making closer to the citizens”.
Despite the winding connection of this reflection with self-determination, the team of the President of the Congress was forced to clarify that Armengol spoke of strengthening the Autonomous State. “Bringing decision-making closer to the citizens means that the regional government is closer to the citizen”, they alleged.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, present at the event along with other regional presidents of the PP, avoided making statements that would draw attention to Feijóo. And Vox, who did attend the raising of the flag in the Senate, did not appear in Congress, only to denounce the “hypocrisy” of a PSOE that “celebrates a Constitution that it tramples on every day”, now to want to “amnesty criminals”. Sánchez himself justified the amnesty in the small groups, and criticized that the PP and Vox tried to create a “dramatic” political and social atmosphere that does not exist on the street. “They run a marathon as if it were a hundred meter race”, he warned, before a legislature that, he insisted, will last four years.
A legislature that also did not see Podemos’ break with Sumar at risk, about which he had a conversation with Yolanda Díaz the day before, while Ione Belarra confirmed to Félix Bolaños that it would not endanger the stability of the central government. “A left-wing party will not jeopardize the policies of a progressive government”, they assumed in Moncloa. “But it will be necessary to negotiate more”, admitted Sánchez.