The interim president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Vicente Guilarte, has maintained that he is not in favor of an amnesty that is “somewhat occasional” and without a majority consensus, although he has argued that the “need and urgency” of the votes of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont.
“The amnesty must have budgets. It is an institution that can be legitimate, but I think it must be treated with care,” Guilarte said in an interview yesterday Wednesday on Cadena Ser, in which he raised two substantial elements of it: that be something “that interests more than it harms”, that is, that it is of general interest and, on the other hand, that there is consensus.
In the first element, Guilarte assures that “it is not easy” to prove that it is a law of general interest since, if so, “it would appear in the party programs before the elections.”
“It has to have a certain consensus, obey a new renegotiation of the territorial model in its case. But, in my opinion, I think that I would not be very in favor of an amnesty that is somewhat occasional and without at least a majority consensus,” he stressed, remembering that “there are elements behind it that can force it”, in reference to the “need and urgency” of Puigdemont’s votes to give his support to a possible investiture of Sánchez.
“Legally everything fits, but I insist, with some budgets. It must be analyzed, it is an exceptional institution and it must be used with great care, because directly raised and without any other justification than the mere electoral situation it seems more questionable,” he stressed.
When asked about a possible resignation en bloc of the CGPJ magistrates to force its renewal, Guilarte ruled it out since that would imply, as he explained, taking a “political” position.
“We are not to blame for not being renewed. Being in office, furthermore, it is very questionable. We cannot leave a system like the current one, with 200 people working, as an element of distortion,” he argued.
In line with this, he said that in a supposed case in which a resignation en bloc would ensure their renewal, “well, we resign,” he said, although insisting that it is an “unreal” case.
“Each one has to assume his fault. Here the fault lies with the Parliament and the Senate. Not me. Two do not quarrel if one does not want to and I do not want to enter into the debate of political guilt, which is what is basically intended “, he added.
