The Government is trying to resume negotiations with the PP on the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) given the possibility of a collective resignation. He does so by publicly pointing to the party based on Calle Génova in Madrid as solely responsible for the blockade of this constitutional body whose members have had their mandate expired for more than four years.
For the Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, the situation in the Judiciary is “unsustainable” and he understands that there are members who are thinking of resigning from their posts. “But that is not the solution, the solution is for [Alberto Núñez] Feijóo to comply with the Constitution, the law and what he agrees to, because we reached an agreement to renew the Council,” said the de facto political vice president, reports Europa Press .
Moncloa thus tries to recover the talks to update the composition of the CGPJ that were broken due to the suspicion on the part of the PP that the PSOE was agreeing with the ERC on the repeal of the crime of sedition, as happened later. The agreement between the two major parties was drawn up, according to government sources, but it was not signed.
For its part, after a first meeting this Friday to which all the members of the progressive sector of the General Council of the Judiciary have not been able to attend, this group has met again for next Tuesday with the aim of addressing possible resignations within the governing body of judges. The appointment has been set after the member Concepción Sáez announced that she resigns from continuing to hold the position given the situation of “institutional degradation” that the governing body of the judges is going through and the counselor Álvaro Cuesta proposed to address a collective resignation.
The president of the Council, Rafael Mozo, has sent a WhatsApp to the members of the progressive group where he summons them to a face-to-face meeting on the 28th at 7:00 p.m. Half of the members were absent from this Friday’s meeting for scheduling reasons, which is why it was decided to repeat next Tuesday. In contrast, Mozo, Clara Martínez de Careaga, Pilar Sepúlveda (this member connected to the meeting by videoconference), Sáez and Cuesta attended. In this first meeting, the members have assessed the situation that the Council is going through and the possible scenarios and consequences if there are “individual and not collective” resignations, legal sources report.
Counselor Cuesta, a former PSOE deputy, yesterday urged his colleagues to address the idea that a collective resignation should be carried out that would leave the plenary session unable to operate due to lack of a quorum. However, up to three members of the progressive sector of the CGPJ are against the resignation, so it is difficult for the maneuver to prosper, as EL MUNDO has learned.
On the other hand, legal sources explain that in the hypothetical case that eight members resign, the Plenary would be left without the minimum number of members necessary to be able to be constituted, but they suggest that the Permanent Commission of the Council could continue to function. In other words, it is doubtful that even if a joint resignation were carried out, it would automatically be forced to renew the body with the path of its dissolution.
The former deputy of the PSOE Álvaro Cuesta understands that after the resignation of President Carlos Lesmes last October and the announcement of Sáez’s resignation, the presence of the progressive members of the CGPJ “is evident” and thus he transmitted it yesterday to his colleagues through a whatsapp.
On the other hand, next Thursday a plenary session has been convened in the Council. Legal sources maintain that it will address the resignation letter sent by Sáez to the president, who has the ultimate power to accept or reject the resignation.
Cuesta has reported that he intends that in addition to the departure of the member appointed at the proposal of Izquierda Unida, the plenary debates on the collective resignation of the members. The majority of councilors that make up the governing body of the judges rule out, however, that there will be a contagion effect with the march of Sáez and the proposal of the former PSOE parliamentarian.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has spoken from Brussels on the situation of the CGPJ and has once again accused the PP of having that institution intervened and of hijacking the Constitution in order to make it clear that the “natural order of things is that conservatism is the one who monopolizes” the governing body of the judges.
In an appearance before the media after the European Council, Sánchez has considered this “full-fledged political intervention” by the PP “unacceptable” and has asked its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to recover the autonomy of the “right that sends him and set the pace” and comply with the agreement for the renewal of such an important institution for Spain as the General Council of the Judiciary.
The president has avoided commenting on what the progressive members of the Council can do, but has once again regretted a situation that has lasted for more than four years.
A blockade that, in Sánchez’s opinion, is “degrading” the institution because of the PP, which puts – he has said – its partisan interests before that of the country and that sends a message with its attitude inside and outside the institution.
Inside, Sánchez pointed out, to make it clear that it is a party that is willing to control the judiciary and outside, to society, so that they believe that the “natural order of things is for conservatism to be the one to represent, monopolize and rule the judiciary in our country”.
The President of the Government has indicated that it is clear that after the elections, with a broader progressive majority, he hopes to be able “once and for all” to make the PP see that it has to comply with the Constitution. | EFE
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