The conversations between the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and the Deputy Secretary for Institutional Policy of the PP have been suspended, at the request of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, after confirming the President of the Government that he intends to continue with the reform of the crime of sedition.
The president of the PP made this decision after a telephone conversation with the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in which he ratified his intentions to maintain the reform of the Penal Code to reduce the penalties for the crime of sedition.
According to a statement made public by the PP, the conversation between Sánchez and Feijóo aimed to "update the status of the talks regarding a legislative change to guarantee judicial independence, as well as for the renewal of pending bodies, and underlines that " although President Sánchez was fully aware of this when he erroneously announced that the agreement was done”, Feijóo reminded him that he was still open on several relevant and essential issues for the PP.
For the PP, the change of position of the PSOE in relation to the reform of the Penal Code to reduce the penalties for the crime of sedition, is not acceptable, especially when the government negotiator, Félix Bolaños, had told them “that he was not in their plans undertake that modification“. Now, and before the different versions of the Government today, in the conversation, Feijóo asked Sánchez for clarifications and the President of the Government confirmed that his legislative agenda included the reform of the Penal Code and consequently he will not give up its modification.
For the PP “it is an insurmountable inconsistency to agree on the reinforcement of the rule of law at the same time that it is agreed with other parties to unprotect it. For this reason, he proposed to address a reform of the Penal Code between the PSOE and the PP that affects the crimes of rebellion and sedition, as well as the classification of the crime of calling an illegal referendum, as contemplated in the electoral program of the PSOE.
By not being accepted by the president, "the talks are suspended while waiting for the PSOE to decide whether in the institutional sphere it wants to advance with a constitutionalist party like the PP or wants to continue hand in hand with parties that seek to weaken the rule of law and break the constitutional unity”.
In spite of everything, the president of the PP ends the statement assuring that the PP is at the disposal of the Government to address issues that affect the rule of law.
Pedro Sánchez's reaction to the suspension of the negotiations to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has been transferred this Thursday night through a statement from the PSOE, which summons Alberto Núñez Feijóo to "comply with the Constitution, without pretexts and without delay”, after almost four years of blockade of the governing body of the judges.
“On the verge of completing four years of the right-wing blockade in the renewal of the CGPJ, the PP has once again broken off the negotiations, this time with an agreement ready and ready to be signed,” affirms the PSOE in its release.
The party led by Sánchez also warns that “the institutional crisis in a state power that the PP is causing with its obstructionist attitude is very serious and is damaging the normal functioning of justice, as well as the reputation of our country in the Union. European”.
The President of the Government, according to Ferraz's statement, telephoned Feijóo this Thursday, "to formalize an agreement that had already been negotiated and ready to be signed by the PSOE and the PP." "However, today Feijóo has used a new excuse to block the renewal of the CGPJ, thus breaking the negotiation and failing to comply with the Constitution once again," the statement regrets.
“Feijóo demonstrates an absolute lack of political autonomy by not resisting the pressures of the most reactionary right that, at all times, has been boycotting this negotiation so that it does not come to fruition,” warns the PSOE. "Compliance with the Constitution does not admit conditions or blackmail," he stresses.
Regarding the reform of the crime of sedition, the PSOE statement ensures that "the Government's legislative agenda has not been modified at any time throughout the legislature or during the negotiations of recent weeks." However, he settles: “Of course, it cannot be exchanged with the mandatory compliance with the Constitution
