The judicial career, through the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), its four associations and the association of prosecutors, has reacted practically immediately and unanimously after learning the details of the agreement between the PSOE and Junts for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and in which the two formations endorse, in the opinion of the judiciary, opening investigation commissions to proceed against judges who had acted against the Catalan independence movement. The Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM), the Francisco de Vitoria, the progressive Judges for Democracy, the Independent Judicial Forum and the Association of Prosecutors have agreed to show their concern about the mention of “lawfare or judicialization of politics” and its consequences. A concern to which the permanent commission of the governing body of judges has been added. Almost 80 deans have also joined this statement, including those from Barcelona, Lleida and Girona.
According to the associations, the text of the agreement contains explicit references to the possibility of developing investigative commissions in order to determine the existence of situations of judicialization of politics, with the consequences that, if applicable, could give rise to liability actions. or legislative modifications. “This could mean, in practice, subjecting judicial procedures and decisions to parliamentary review with evident interference in judicial independence and bankruptcy of the separation of powers,” point out the four associations of judges.
The statement states that the “distrust” with the judiciary that is palpable in the political agreement “is not acceptable.” “The judiciary in Spain is independent, does not act under political pressure and has a system of jurisdictional guarantees that eliminates the risk that is pointed out,” they conclude.
For the permanent commission of the CGPJ, the mention of the judicialization of politics "potentially implies subjecting to parliamentary review decisions framed in the exclusivity of the scope of competence of our courts which, on the other hand, we understand were produced in a manner fully in accordance with the legality at that time." prosecuted". And in the same sense as the associations, the permanent commission points out that "the proposed initiative would imply an inadmissible interference in judicial independence and a flagrant attack on the separation of powers" and warns that "if it were to materialize, it would determine our most frontal opposition." through the legally established channels".
The permanent statement has been approved with votes in favor of the president of the CGPJ, Vicente Guilarte; and the vocalists Roser Bach, Mar Cabrejas, Ángeles Carmona and Carmen Llombart. Member Pilar Sepúlveda has voted against. The declaration has been sent to the rest of the members of the governing body of the judges so that, if they wish, they can express their adherence to it.
The agreement, a priori, only refers to the conclusions of the investigation commissions that have already been agreed with Junts and ERC, such as that of the Catalunya operation and that of Pegasus.
For weeks now, there has been concern from the judicial career about the negotiations between the PSOE and the Catalan independentists to achieve the investiture of Sánchez as president of the government.
Thus, last week, the conservative and majority APM chose to release a statement talking about the “beginning of the end of our democracy” if the amnesty is approved. However, the rest of the associations considered it more appropriate to wait to learn about the bill before taking a public position. It is the same line as that maintained by the acting president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Vicente Guilarte, who, despite showing his enormous concern about the amnesty, understands that we must first know its wording.
