The intricate process of renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) started in 2018 has added so many requiebros and castling in these almost four years that the parties involved continue to advance with lead feet. And despite the thaw caused by the meeting held at the beginning of the week between the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the negotiation has barely started and no one is able to ensure that there is an agreement and even less immediately.
The person in charge of gauging the state of the issue yesterday from the socialist side was the Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, acknowledging that the negotiating process “is advancing” with the Popular Party for, “this time ” Yes, renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). Although he did not hesitate to appeal to moderation, assuring that “until everything is agreed, nothing will be agreed. This is the key to trading. And that’s why I want to be careful.”
Bolaños confirmed that a written document is being worked on, as the PP had demanded the day before, but refused to delve into the details, knowing that any spark could blow up the “last chance” that socialists and popular given for understanding: “Hopefully there will be an agreement and hopefully there will be soon and well, hopefully. But in the meantime what I want is for the negotiation to go”, he limited himself to pointing out.
Feijóo expressed himself along the same lines, taking advantage of his participation in an act in Valencia to remember the red lines marked by the PP since his arrival at the presidency of the party. “If the Government wants, we will reach an agreement, and we will agree to do it through the current election system,” said the Galician.
But it did not take long to list its conditions: that there be no political positions, that there be a commitment to change the legislation in the next Council – giving “greater prominence” to judges and magistrates in the judicial shift – and that the CGPJ make its decisions by a three-fifths majority. “So that there are no doubts that this is neither a progressive nor a conservative majority and we manage to preserve something as basic as judicial independence, a guarantee of the rule of law,” he stressed.
To avoid being accused of tightening the rope too much in the face of so many conditions, the popular leader took refuge in recent requests from the European institutions, recalling that the proper functioning of State institutions “should not be part of the political debate and even less be held hostage by that discussion.”
Despite his efforts, Feijóo could not help but end with a message to the Government by saying that “it makes no sense and we do not give a message of judicial independence if the Government appoints a minister who resigns in the morning and appoints him as attorney general in the afternoon ” .
