The European Commission remains “available” to “facilitate” the negotiations between the PSOE and the PP to agree on the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) despite the early departure of the community executive of Didier Reynders, who has resigned as of today temporarily to the position of European Commissioner for Justice to dedicate himself to defending his candidacy for Secretary General of the Council of Europe. “The president has decided to assign responsibility for the Justice portfolio to the vice president of Transparency and Values, Vera Jourova,” announced the spokesperson, Arianne Podesta.
The decision “has no implications for the structured dialogue” between Spanish political parties, added Justice spokesperson Anitta Hipper. “We are having discussions with the parties and they will continue. The European Commission remains fully available to get involved” in the contacts,” concluded the community spokesperson, who has avoided offering more details about possible future meetings between Vice President Jourova and the Minister of Justice and negotiator for the PSOE, Félix Bolaños, and the representative of the Popular Party, Esteban González Pons.
Shortly before last midnight, the European Commissioner for Justice, the Belgian liberal Didier Reynders, changed his profile photo and biography on the social network thus the news advanced by the newspaper El Mundo about the unexpected advance of his leave of absence. Reynders has been invited to participate in the General Assembly of the Council of Europe, an institution outside the EU, which takes place this week in Strasbourg, which is why he asked Von der Leyen to bring forward his departure from the institution, sources close to him explain. . The unpaid leave will last at least until the date of that election, at the end of June.
The initiative to involve the European Commission in the Spanish political negotiations on the renewal of the CGPJ came from the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who raised the idea in his meeting with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, on the eve of the summer holidays. Christmas. President Ursula von der Leyen did not expect such a demand, which is unprecedented since the other member states resolve these types of issues internally, but she finally agreed to let Reynders get involved. Of course, putting a two-month limit on mediation. The deadline was met without having reached an agreement but the commissioner was optimistic and went so far as to assure that they were “very close” to reaching it despite the negative messages coming from the PP, whose enthusiasm for European mediation on this issue was has cooled noticeably.
The schedule coincided with the time that, in principle, was going to pass until Reynders took a leave of absence to be able to campaign freely to become the next secretary general of the Council of Europe, a body based in Strasbourg outside the EU. Finally, at the end of March, the Belgian liberal politician decided to postpone his departure for a month and declared himself open to maintaining contacts. In his opinion, an agreement was within reach. The cancellation of the meeting scheduled in Madrid, attributed to the PP, once again cast shadows on the success of the initiative.
Sources from the PSOE have thanked the Commission for continuing in its role as mediator and have called on the PP to accelerate the talks due to “the situation of accelerated and irreversible decomposition of the Council”, which, in their opinion, “has become more than evident these days”, which makes “renewal essential and, above all, urgent”. “Not only do we and the European Commission say it, the main associations of judges, conservative and progressive, also called last week for the CGPJ to be renewed immediately,” added these sources, who assure that the situation of the justice is “on the limit.” In the PSOE they expect an agreement “very soon” and warn the PP that “there are no excuses or delays possible” and remember that negotiations are being carried out “with the format chosen by the PP, the mediator chosen by the PP and the deadlines assumed by the PP”.
On the part of the PP, its spokesperson, Borja Sémper, has downplayed Reynders’ decision and has assured that what is “relevant” is the role of the European Union, not the person in charge of mediation. And regarding the possibilities of reaching an agreement to renew the CGPJ before the resignation, in the summer, of its current acting president, Vicente Guilarte, the PP is moderately optimistic.
“Nothing has changed, we are committed to the talks,” said Sémper, who hopes that the issue will be resolved as soon as possible and will not be affected by the electoral calendar. And sources from Genoa have insisted on this same idea, who hope that the socialists will be the ones to move from their positions: “They, who are good at giving in, give in with everyone except the PP. This PSOE is good at giving in, it is given well,” they have indicated in reference to Pedro Sánchez’s pacts with the independence groups.
