The appointment by the Government of the former Socialist Justice Minister Juan Carlos Campo together with the former General Director of Constitutional Affairs and Legal Coordination of the Ministry of the Presidency Laura Díez as magistrates of the Constitutional Court (TC) does not deserve, at least for now, a wake-up call from the European Commission, which, however, once again insists on the urgency of renewing the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to unblock the rest of the appointments.
The Justice Commissioner, Didier Reynders, asked by Europa Press about the impact of Campo’s appointment on the independence of the judiciary in Spain and about whether Brussels is considering taking measures, pointed out that this is not the only case in the European Union where They find former ministers as magistrates of constitutional courts but that they will wait to have the details of the appointment.
“It is not the only country in which this situation occurs. I haven’t looked at it yet. We are going to see how we are going to analyze the exact situation of that appointment, ”replied the community head of Justice. “But, I repeat, what we are asking for, above all, is first the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary that allows all appointments to be made in the Constitutional Court,” he stressed.
These words of Reynders, which abound in the message he left on his visit to Spain in September and which opened the door -together with the subsequent resignation of Carlos Lesmes as president of the CGPJ- to negotiations between the PSOE and the PP to renew the the governing body of the judges, represent an endorsement by the European Commission of the theses of the Executive of Pedro Sánchez, since they relativize the criticism of the opposition to the appointments of Campo and Díez for having recently formed part of the Executive and put the emphasis in the urgent renewal of the Judiciary, blocked by the PP for almost four years – next Sunday this period will be fulfilled since the mandate of the body expired.
The last and umpteenth attempt to resolve the renewal of the Judiciary and the TC failed when the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, broke off negotiations at the end of October due to the Government’s intention to modify the crime of sedition, which will finally be repealed and It will be replaced by the crime of aggravated public disorder.
Despite the first reaction of the Community Executive, the president of the PP announced yesterday that his formation will inform the European authorities of the attempt of “control” of the Government of Sánchez to the TC because he is “concerned” by the “drift” that is taking place and that , in his opinion, is “putting the constitutional foundations at risk” in Spain. The opposition leader indicated that the Executive’s steps confirm that Sánchez’s “sole” objective is to “control State institutions”, also citing the actions of the State Attorney General’s Office, the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).
In fact, he alluded to this breakdown in the negotiations to renew the governing body of the judges and ruled that now the “majority of Spaniards is discovering why it was not possible to reach an agreement.” “It was not possible because the Government never renounced politicizing justice, on the contrary, it has influenced the iron control of State institutions,” he concluded.
