Without giving room for the echoes of Tuesday to dissipate, the president of Congress, the socialist Francina Armengol, reaffirmed herself this Friday in her speech at the solemn opening of the Cortes to warn of the “dangers” that a democracy if citizens feel that the judiciary is not independent, a day after two controversial and unprecedented decisions of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Supreme Court (TS) contrary to the Executive of Pedro Sánchez. The first, to declare the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, unsuitable, and the second to overthrow the appointment of Magdalena Valerio as president of the Council of State.
Oblivious to the criticism of the PP Deputy Secretary of Autonomous and Municipal Policy, Elías Bendodo, of the Government for its “permanent colonization of the institutions”, the president of Congress argued in an interview on Radio Nacional that in order to “consolidate” Spanish democracy and make it “stronger” it is necessary that “citizens feel very close to their institutions, also to the judiciary.” And she insisted on the “strangeness” that it causes her that “someone can put buts” to the legitimacy of the parliamentary majority of Congress that emerged in the July 23 elections, because to question it “is not to understand the basis of democracy.” .
Armengol’s was not the only socialist reaction to the PP’s attacks against the PSOE in judicial matters. The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, congratulated himself for seeing how “the balloon of the right and the extreme right, who said that Europe was very concerned” with the amnesty law, had been punctured. “In Europe they are already well aware of their exaggerations” and their “overacting” on the subject.
Bolaños thus reaffirmed himself in his statements the day before that, in his opinion, there are “zero concerns” in Brussels in this regard, despite the fact that this Friday the European Commission replied that it is too early to make such a categorical statement since there is no will rule on it until it is approved. “The analysis [of the legislative draft] is still underway. Therefore, in that sense, the commissioner has not said for now that the amnesty law does not raise concerns,” replied the spokesperson for the European Commission, Christian Wigand, when asked about the Spanish minister’s summary of the meetings held in Brussels with the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, and the vice president of the institution, Vera Jourová.
Wigand specified that the meetings were “constructive” and that it was agreed to “continue” the dialogue on issues related to the rule of law in Spain that were put on the table, especially the need to renew the General Council of the Judiciary. and the amnesty law. “The commissioner informed the minister that he has questions and wants to continue with the conversations with the Spanish authorities,” concluded the community spokesperson in response to questions from the press at the European Commission’s daily press conference. Given Brussels’ clarification of Bolaños’ words, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, demanded not only a rectification but an apology. “We demand that he recognize his lie, rectify it and apologize to the Commission itself and the Spaniards,” he claimed on social network X.
Every year, Brussels prepares a report on the situation of the rule of law in each country of the Union and in its last two editions it has included specific recommendations to each Government to improve the democratic health of the member state in question. In the case of Spain, they refer to the urgency to renew the CGPJ and reform the system of election of judges, as well as the need to separate the mandates of the Attorney General and the Government to guarantee their independence. The next report will not be issued until July of next year and Brussels cannot act preventively, but at the beginning of November Reynders became interested in the debate on the amnesty and requested information from the acting Government about the law, even before the PSOE will deposit the draft in Congress.
Bolaños sent him the draft as soon as it was presented and the preliminary analysis of the community executive, according to sources consulted by this newspaper, is that the text avoids the two points that could have been problematic with respect to community law, since it does not make reference at any time to the concept of lawfare and also explains that “crimes that affect the financial interests of the EU” are excluded from its scope. The European Commission, however, reaffirms that it will not evaluate the law until the final text is approved, hence it will not consider the matter closed.
