The European Commission will help Spanish political parties reach an agreement to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and implement other recommendations of the rule of law report, such as reforming the system of electing judges, but poses a process express and will limit its intervention to a period of two months. This was announced today by the community executive, in response to the request sent after the leaders of the PSOE and the Popular Party agreed to ask the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, to act as a “mediator.” The first meeting of this “structured dialogue” between the parties will take place next week.
“The Commission is ready to play its role and ensure compliance with EU law,” the institution announced today in a press release. “To this end, the Commission, under the responsibility of Commissioner Reynders, will maintain a structured dialogue on the application of the recommendation of the 2022 and 2023 reports on the Rule of Law in Spain. This structured dialogue will be focused on resolving a problem that persists, and to guarantee the implementation of both parts of the Commission’s recommendation”, reports the community executive, who specifies “this dialogue should not exceed two months”, which is the time that Reynders himself has left in the institution.
In parallel, Commissioner Reynders has sent a letter today to the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, as well as to the Deputy Secretary of Institutional Action of the PP, Esteban González Pons, in which he invites them to hold a ” first joint meeting” in Brussels. “We have reflected on the best way to facilitate the implementation of this recommendation,” explains the commissioner, who announces his proposal to “establish a structured dialogue” between the parties. The European Commission avoids defining with the word “mediator” the role that Reynders will assume, but the contacts will occur “under his responsibility,” the institution assures. “We understand that the two main political parties are willing to sit down to negotiate and have accepted that the EC supervises this process,” stressed the community spokesperson for Justice.
Brussels’ lack of enthusiasm for the prospect of interceding between the PSOE and the PP has been evident from the first moment, given the risk that the European Commission itself will be burned in the process, but also the pressure from the Government, the Popular Party and Ciudadanos has been strong. Asked about the issue this morning, Reynders limited himself to remembering that the renewal of the CGPJ corresponds “first of all” to the political parties, and said that he should see with the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen if there is any “additional step” that they can contribute to internal debates.
The commissioner, who has presented his candidacy for secretary general of the Council of Europe (an institution not linked to the EU) and will leave the community executive at the end of March, has stressed that “it is not usual” for the Commission to have to act as mediator of national discussions, and has stressed that “it is up to” the Spanish political forces to implement the conclusions of the reports on the rule of law in the EU. “They are the first to commit to applying the recommendations,” but “it is too early to say more today”, concluded the commissioner in statements to the press early in the morning.
“We thank the Commission for its rapid response to the request of the Government of Spain to begin working urgently on the renewal of the CGPJ”, reacted the Ministry of Justice, which recalled that “this is what Minister Bolaños conveyed to Commissioner Reynders in one of the meetings they have had these days in Brussels”, where these days an informal meeting of European Justice Ministers is being held. Coincidentally, the meeting is scheduled to analyze the latest report on the rule of law and, on this occasion, it will be the turn to debate the chapter dedicated to Spain.
Bolaños has pointed out that “it is not minor news that the PP sits down to negotiate” the renewal of the CGPJ in “a negotiation that must be definitive” because justice “cannot take it any longer” in this situation. Furthermore, the minister has assured that the position of the European Commission on this matter coincides with that of the Government, that is, that “the urgent thing, the first thing” is to renew the highest body of judges and then explore the possibility of undertaking the reform legal requirement of the PP.
For his part, the leader of the popular parties has welcomed the fact that Brussels has agreed to mediate in this matter, ensuring that “it is more urgent than ever” to redress the “deterioration of the rule of law” and reinforce the independence of justice at a time when which the Government drafts “penal codes tailored to those who have committed crimes.”
After remembering that it was he who made this proposal, he wanted to make it clear that not only will the renewal of the CGPJ be addressed, but “simultaneously”, a law that “deepens the independence of the Judiciary”, which in accordance with the criteria of the European Union, assumes that the member judges of the CGPJ are chosen “by their peers.” Feijóo hopes that with the new law “it will be clear that ministers can no longer be Constitutional Court magistrates, and that general directors cannot go beyond La Moncloa to Constitutional”.
When asked about the Amnesty law, which will be voted on on January 30, Reynders stated that they are “very attentive” to the amendments on terrorism but stressed that we must wait for a definitive text of the law to exist. the Commission decides. “You have to pay close attention to what constitutes part of European crime legislation, and terrorism is part of it. So we will be very attentive, but, I repeat, we are not going to react to each of the stages of the text (…) we will continue discussing and we will speak out when there is a text,” he added. In any case, there is a dialogue between Brussels and the Spanish authorities on the matter, Reynders has concluded. For his part, Bolaños added that in his meeting with the commissioner held yesterday they did not speak “not once” about the Amnesty. “The European Commission’s concern comes from the non-renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary.”
