The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has fulfilled the historical record of having spent four years with its mandate expired. The reason is none other than the lack of agreement between the two main managers of the renewal, the PP and the PSOE. Parliament is the one that has the functions of electing its members, but the parties have transferred their fratricidal struggles, their disagreements and, ultimately, their politics, to justice. The result: a Judiciary under the constant accusation of acting for political interests.
During these four years the alarm has been raised from different levels. The president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Carlos Lesmes, resigned because of this blockade, and even Europe has called for an end to this escalation of politicization of judicial life and to urgently renew the body of judges.
The judicial associations consider that this situation harms the perception that the citizen has of Justice, at the same time that they defend that this idea of politicization is not real. They explain that judges administer justice and are oblivious to political interests.
For years, the main political parties have accused each other of trying to control the judiciary. It seems a tradition to try to "place" like-minded people within the decision-making bodies. They believe that this is how they guarantee the appointment of magistrates, especially in the Supreme Court, who are close to their political sensitivities. The same happens in the Constitutional Court.
The appointments announced this week by the Government for the Constitutional Court, after the unilateral breakdown of the negotiations to renew the CGPJ of the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, have once again raised blisters between the two parties.
The popular ones have taken to the European Commission the election of the former socialist minister Juan Carlos Campo – in charge of assuming the granting of pardons to the pro-independence leaders convicted of sedition – and Laura Díez, a high office of the Presidency. For the PP it is "the last assault of Pedro Sánchez" and it has harshly criticized these names.
However, European instances have downplayed these appointments, assuring that the same situation occurs in other European countries. In fact, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, has once again put the focus on the urgent need to renew the body of judges.
There are several occasions that PSOE and PP have been on the verge of agreeing on the appointments of the Constitutional and always the lack of consensus by the chosen profiles led to the collapse of the pact.
The blockade of the CGPJ is the paradigm of the situation. When in 2018 there was an attempt to renew it, the existing interests became clear. "Controlling the Second Chamber from behind," wrote PP senator Ignacio Cosidó in a WhatsApp group in November 2018, making clear the determination of his formation to elect Manuel Marchena as the new president of the Supreme Court and the body of judges. The current president of the Criminal Chamber of the High Court had to go out publicly to renounce any possibility of running for that position.
But not all the blame falls on the political parties, members of the judiciary also hold the members themselves responsible for the situation, since they accept the conditions that are set for them to reach their chair. They remember that the CGPJ has had other times of great politicization, such as that of Enrique López and Juan Carlos Campo as members -they have both ended up in politics- and that of Gabriela Bravo -current Justice Minister of the Valencian Generalitat-.
The truth is that some judicial platforms have been denouncing the politicization within the CGPJ, a body that, according to their complaints, serves as a political and judicial springboard for its members. With the arrival of Carlos Lesmes to the presidency of the body, his commitment was to minimize the prominence and exposure of the entity.
In a certain way, he succeeded, except in moments of tension with members of the Government, on the part of Podemos, due to statements against judicial decisions or members of the judicial career.
However, the tension with the Pedro Sánchez government escalated to such an extent that Lesmes was forced to resign. The blockade maintained by the PP, which has repeatedly and openly refused to renew the CGPJ, has been joined by some legislative reforms that have led the Judiciary to collapse
