Although it was not on the agenda of this plenary session of the European Parliament, when, yesterday, socialists and environmentalists joined forces to put a last-minute debate on the rule of law in Greece on the agenda, the European People’s Party, which had Warned that he did not want to bring national issues to the camera, he turned around and “inspired” by the initiative demanded to also speak about Spain and Malta. The discussion, held this morning, had more to do with national political dynamics than with the substance of the matter, the recommendations from Brussels to Spain on the judiciary and, paradoxically, ended with Carles Puigdemont thanking the PP for the initiative. “I did not expect that it would be the PP that would follow one of the lines of defense to prevent extradition,” the Junts MEP said ironically.
The debate started with the intervention of the Vice President of the European Commission, Vera Jourová, who recalled the main recommendations to Spain included in her report of July last year to improve the situation of the rule of law: renew the General Council of Power Judicial “as a priority”, reform the system for appointing its judges and, finally, reinforce the statute of the State Attorney General to safeguard its independence and break its link with the Executive power. Only a small part of the subsequent interventions by Spanish MEPs have focused on the substance of these issues.
Juan Fernando López Aguilar (PSOE), president of the Liberties commission, has denounced the “anger” of the PP against “the reputation of his own country” and has reiterated that if the CGPJ has not been renewed in five years it is because the main party of the opposition has “kidnapped the process”. “Spain does not have a problem of the rule of law, Spain has a problem with the democratic conformity of the PP every time the left wins the elections”, he concluded, but not before accusing the PP of putting “sticks in the wheels” of the presidency of the EU, which will begin on July 1.
“Madam Vice President Jourová, lose all hope, the Spanish government has neither complied nor will it comply with any of the recommendations in its reports”, continued Javier Zarzalejos (PP), who has stated that the Pedro Sánchez executive cannot ask them to play “the first part of a game but not the second”, that is to say, that it is not possible to speak of the reform of the system of election of the judges. The popular MEP has tried to clarify the meaning of the debate. “We democratically criticize the Government of Spain and nevertheless affirm that Spain does not have a structural problem with the rule of law, the problem of the rule of law is its Government but this is not a structural condition.”
Vox MEP Jorge Buxadé has gone further, who, in line with the theses of the European far-right parties, has begun questioning whether the European Commission has anything to say on national affairs (“When have powers in matters of national law been transferred to Brussels? of justice, national security or official secrets?”, he has cited the corruption case of ‘Tito Berni’, has accused the Government of giving in to the “coup plotters” and of allowing the release of rapists and the “desecration of graves” and has concluded by saying that the coalition of PSOE and Podemos is “the worst government in our history”, implicitly including the years of the dictatorship.
Sira Rigo (IU), for her part, began with irony, lamenting the absence in the chamber, “as concerned as she has been lately about Spain”, of Manfred Weber, leader of the PPE. “I thought that he was not going to recover from the blow that his party gave him by proposing Ursula von der Leyen as president of the EC but, look at him, there we have him, as leader of the opposition of my country. If he continues like this, I see him disputing to Mr. Feijóo the candidacy for the presidency of the Government”. Rego has accused the deputies of the PP of “trying to destabilize the fourth European economy” and has branded them as “irresponsible” for maintaining the blockade of the renewal of the CGPJ.
For his part, Ernest Urtasun (Catalunya en Comú), has ironized the “Frankenstein coalition”, with the support of Vox and the independence movement, which the PP has set up to maintain this debate and, speaking of corruption, has asked them to clarify whether his candidate for mayor of Badalona will be Xavier García Albiol. Regarding the substance of the debate, Urtasun has accused the PP of “not listening” to Jourová: “The commissioner has said first to renew and then change the election model, do her job and assume her responsibilities.” Maite Pagazaurtundúa (C’s) has declared herself “concerned” about the judicial situation in Spain but has advocated “first changing the law” on the election of the members of the CGPJ. “This government is sometimes scaring judges for ideological reasons so that they censor themselves,” Pagaza launched, concluding that she “has gotten worse” with the entry of “left-wing populists into the government.”
After more than an hour of interventions on the situation in Spain, Greece and Malta, it was Puigdemont’s turn, who began by thanking the PPE for having proposed a debate on the rule of law because “it is a very worrying and they are an active part of it.” “I did not expect the PP to follow what is one of our lines of defense to prevent extradition, the politicization of the Spanish justice system. My most sincere thanks”, he emphasized.
Once again, the PP has tried to clarify the meaning of its decision to request the holding of this debate with which, they say, despite its title, the situation of the rule of law in Spain, not to try to question it. “We are here to defend Spain and the Spanish people, not a bad government. Spain is a great nation, a full democracy and a rule of law but with the worst government of democracy”, said Dolors Monserrat, leader of ranks of the popular in the European Parliament, which has evoked the recent reform of the crime of sedition, the law of yes is yes or the ruling on the General of the Civil Guard Pérez de los Cobos as examples of the “modus operandi” of “a government without scruples, capable of anything to cling to power”.
Jourová thanked all the MEPs for their interventions and reiterated that, although for some MEPs the EC does not do enough and for others it goes too far, its analysis of the rule of law, which aims to stimulate dialogue and reforms, is falls within his powers in accordance with the treaty. The plenary session of the European Parliament will vote on a resolution with the conclusions of the debate in the plenary session at the end of April.
