The Plenary Session of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) ended today as planned, without an agreement to appoint two magistrates of the Constitutional Court. The conservative bloc had already warned that it still does not have its candidate, so it was totally unlikely that there would be a white smoke.
The decision to lengthen the process even further has two messages. The first, addressed directly to the Government so that it reaches an agreement with the PP and renews the body, which has been in office since December 2018. The conservative members hope that the visit of the Commissioner of Justice of the European Union, Didier Reynders, forces an agreement between the political formations.
The second message is for the president of the CGPJ, Carlos Lesmes, who is forcing an agreement to be reached as soon as possible to elect the magistrates of the TC and comply with the law, which set the deadline for doing so as September 13.
Lesmes had informally announced that his intention is to reach an agreement and then resign to return as a magistrate to the Contentious Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court.
The negotiating table, made up of three members of the conservative bloc and three other members of the progressive bloc, have informed him that they will maintain new contacts until next Thursday, October 5, when another meeting will be held between them.
This is the compromise reached during the debate held today in the plenary session of the governing body of the judges, in which it has also been decided that, if an agreement is reached on the 5th, an extraordinary plenary session will be convened to proceed with the appointment of the proposed candidates that will take place the next day, Thursday, October 6.
In the event that there is no agreement, the Plenary will meet again, also in an extraordinary session, on Thursday, October 13, so that the members of the negotiating commission give an account of the steps taken.
On the other hand, the Plenary has learned today of the report commissioned by Lesmes to the Technical Cabinet regarding the eventual replacement of the Presidency of the Supreme Court and the CGPJ, and which generated discomfort within the conservative blockade, which does not see with good eyes the way out of Lesmes of the organ.
