The latest demands of the Popular Party to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) make it practically impossible for there to be any pact with the Government in the remainder of the legislature. Yesterday, the popular returned, once again, to raise a series of conditions to the socialists to renew the body of judges, which has been in office for more than three years. The new condition of the popular is that the Government withdraws the reform that it intends to take to the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies this Thursday to allow the appointment of four magistrates of the Constitutional Court to be carried out.
Government sources have been clear. That is not going to happen. They see that it is another of the excuses of the main opposition party, which shows the lack of real interest in reaching an agreement to undo the judiciary
The popular yesterday presented in extremis a document in which a pact is proposed “to reinforce judicial independence and democratic quality” in which it is proposed that the CGPJ be elected in accordance with the law in force, which, within a maximum period of six months , propose a new model for the election of the Council. In addition, it defends advancing in the “depoliticization of justice” and guaranteeing the independence of the State Attorney General’s Office.
The PP accepts that the renewal be carried out with the current law in hand, despite the fact that a change in the law has been required for three years so that it is the judges, and not Parliament, who elect the twenty members of the CGPJ. However, the condition is the withdrawal of the reform that is expected to be approved in Congress on Thursday. Yesterday late in the afternoon, Esteban González Pons met with the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, to try to agree on a solution without reaching any agreement.
Government sources urged after this meeting to maintain the reform proposal because they consider that the PP must be required to comply with the Constitution to renew the CGPJ “and not to set conditions for compliance.” In addition, they warn that this reform was agreed with Pablo Casado’s team to guarantee that the TC could not be blocked.
Likewise, they remember all the excuses raised by the formation previously directed by Casado and now by Núñez Feijóo. They demanded a change in the law so that it is the judges who vote for their members; reaching any agreement with a government that has Podemos as a partner was set as a red line; later ERC and Bildu were pointed out to stop the negotiation. Then the position of Podemos on the Monarchy, its investigation into alleged irregular financing, or the management of the Executive in the departure of the king emeritus, was made an excuse.
The reason for this reform of the law is that the PSOE, together with Podemos, approved a previous modification to prevent the CGPJ from continuing to make appointments to the judicial career, while the body was in office. The background is that they understood that the Council, chaired by Carlos Lesmes, was favoring appointments of conservative magistrates, while the PP continued to block the renewal of the body to prevent the conservatives from losing their majority in plenary.
The problem with that reform is that it also prevents the CGPJ from making the appointment of two magistrates of the TC that corresponds to it. Along with their two names are the two that the Government proposes. These four new magistrates will provoke a progressive majority in the court. However, the four appointments have to be made en bloc. The PSOE has promoted a reform to fix its previous reform and to be able to carry out the new magistrates of the TC, in view that after the arrival of Alberto Núñez Feijóo the foundations have not been laid to unblock the CGPJ either.
With the arrival of the Galician to the presidency of the PP, it was first said that he needed time to negotiate the renewal. Then came the announcement of the Andalusian elections, which again stopped the negotiation. And then, after the announcement of the PSOE of the new reform, the PP has looked for a new excuse not to reach a consensus.
For its part, the CGPJ approved yesterday in full, in a close vote, a document calling on Congress to deliver a report on its opinion regarding the reform that is intended to be approved and that they consider “contradictory and incoherent.”
