The resignation of the highest judicial authority, Carlos Lesmes, after almost four years of blockage in the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and six months of incommunicado detention between the President of the Government and the leader of the Popular Party, forced the start of a thaw between Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who met yesterday for three hours. With an agreement as a conclusion: give oneself "one last chance", but as a matter of utmost urgency, to negotiate the renewal of the governing body of the judges, and in turn unblock the appointment of magistrates of the Constitutional Court. "There is a real possibility of reaching an agreement, and we are going to explore it," they acknowledge in Moncloa. If possible, it will be a matter of days.
"This must be resolved," they urged in Moncloa on Sunday night, once Lesmes announced his determination to resign now. Sánchez's immediate summons to Feijóo to attend Moncloa yesterday broke the ice and, after an hour of meeting, the chief executive confirmed that there was said "real possibility of agreement". For this reason, he suggested that the negotiators on the matter join the meeting: the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and the person in charge of the Institutional Policy of the PP, Esteban González Pons. His mere presence at the meeting revealed the common goal of trying to find a satisfactory solution, after both agreed on the "profound institutional crisis" that Lesmes' resignation opens and the seriousness of the situation.
"The main conclusion is the agreement to make one last attempt to negotiate in order to quickly find a solution to the blockade of both the General Council of the Judiciary and the Constitutional Court," said the Minister of the Presidency at the end of the meeting, who measured his words in public to the millimeter.
"We are starting to try to reach a quick agreement," promised Bolaños. "Now seriously," he demanded, not wanting to reveal clues about the extremes of the negotiation. Although the minister recognized that almost four years of blockade of the Judicial Power and six months of solitary confinement between Sánchez and Feijóo required more room for dialogue. "We are going to give time to time," he argued. In Moncloa they warn that it is about giving a few days to the negotiation, even a week, but without the talks being delayed for months.
In the PP, the sources consulted could not hide that after three hours of meeting a possibility of agreement had opened. Feijóo expressed his optimism in a tweet at the end of the meeting in which he spoke of progress and a new framework "that deepens independence criteria." In the PP they do not reveal that they are negotiating, but they take it for granted that all those involved will have to give up something.
The PP maintains the need to renew the CGPJ, but also to later modify the way its members are elected. That is his position, although it seems that the red line that it constituted is no longer so red. In Moncloa, they warn that they will not change their position on the formula for choosing the members, but they point out that Feijóo did not impose it yesterday as a condition for the negotiation either. "They have not set conditions," they highlight in the Government.
González Pons described the meeting as “more cordial than could be expected”. We have not felt neglected this time, ”he pointed out. For this reason, he believes that it is possible to “talk and do something constructive”. The PP fixes the advances in the fact that the Government did not put names on the table for the renewal. The popular also remember that "the European mandate must be fulfilled", so that the judges choose the judges
For its part, the government partner, United We Can, is skeptical about the supposed change in attitude of the PP after years of blockade and they do not appreciate in the party's declarations a different disposition or a commitment to fulfill the constitutional mandate. They also distrust the precedent of RTVE, in which the PP reached an agreement with the PSOE reserving control of the majority of the council. In any case, yesterday Vice President Yolanda Díaz, who has already maintained contacts with President Sánchez on this matter, brought together the confederal space –ministers and several deputies– to coordinate the position on this matter, whose negotiation will continue to be carried out by the deputy and former secretary of Enrique Santiago State. United We Can will not accept any veto from the PP, and ensures that the Government's position will be that of "the entire Government." In the same way, from the parliamentary group, considering that the legislature is the body that decides, they will not accept that any group with sufficient representation is vetoed. The objective agreed upon yesterday, in any case, is "to be in the agreement, not at the table". UP is more interested in the result of the Council's renewal agreement than in the photo.
