Brussels encourages Spain to unblock the CGPJ without politicizing it

The vice president of the European Commission, Vera Jourová, hopes that her presence in Spain will serve to encourage a political agreement that will achieve judicial unblocking and that the solution will last over time and "as neutral and independent as possible, not politicized".

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
14 June 2022 Tuesday 07:16
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Brussels encourages Spain to unblock the CGPJ without politicizing it

The vice president of the European Commission, Vera Jourová, hopes that her presence in Spain will serve to encourage a political agreement that will achieve judicial unblocking and that the solution will last over time and "as neutral and independent as possible, not politicized". "That is what I would like to see here," stressed Jourová, visiting Madrid, who has been "hopeful" that the parties involved will be able to agree on a proposal, despite the difficulties, that "manages to survive future elections" and changes of government.

A message that the vice-president of the European Commission in charge of Values ​​and Transparency conveyed during her appearance at the Justice Committee of Congress as part of her three-day trip to Spain, where she will also meet with several ministers and with the president of the Constitutional Court and with the president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ).

During her appearance, the Czech politician has indicated that she trusts that the provisions and European standards will be met, recalling that in almost all the Member States it is the judges who choose the judicial bodies and not the political parties. And he has warned that if the solution adopted "is not good" it would lead to a politicization of justice and "that would be very serious."

Jourová has insisted that she will be attentive to what happens in Spain regarding the unblocking of the judiciary because it is a "priority" for the Commission, although she has also said that none of the 27 judicial systems is perfect, "there is always a question of who control who."

The lack of renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary, pending since December 2018 due to the lack of agreement between the PP and the PSOE, is one of the "challenges" that the Spanish Justice "continues to face", pointed out the European Commission in the second report on the rule of law in its 27 Member States published in the summer of 2021.