The judicial crisis experienced is about to reach a turning point. The members of the conservative bloc of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) are stressing to avoid appointing two magistrates of the Constitutional Court – as required by the Constitution – until the Justice Commissioner of the European Union, Didier, arrives next week. Reynders. They have all their hopes pinned on an ultimatum from Europe to force a renewal of the body of judges, blocked by the PP.
The situation is extreme because if the European commissioner does not start a commitment from the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to reach an agreement with the PSOE to appoint the twenty members of the CGPJ, its president, Carlos Lesmes, will put his resignation on top of the table. If this happens, the schism is served.
The CGPJ had until September 13 to appoint the two magistrates of the TC. The progressives already have several candidates, but the majority bloc is playing the trick of slowing down the process to force its renewal. It is true that the Conservatives hold the Government responsible for the situation due to the two reforms it has made of the Law on the Judiciary. The first modification meant that the CGPJ could not make any more appointments of magistrates while it was in office.
He did it to force the PP to renew the body, which will be in office for almost four years now. For conservatives, this reform has caused a collapse in the Judiciary, in general, and in the Supreme Court, in particular. In addition, they have seen as a frontal attack on their institution the second reform that gives them back the power to make appointments, but only those of the TC and also within a set period.
Reynders is coming next week to meet with ministers Félix Bolaños and Pilar Llop, with the PP, and with Lesmes. It comes with two clear messages: the urgency of renewing the CGPJ –blocked by the PP– and then proposing a reform of the law so that it is the judges who appoint the members and not the Parliament –supported by the PP and not seen with such well liked by the socialists. The popular ones continue demanding that the reform comes first, while the socialists accuse the main opposition party of "kidnapping" the CGPJ. PSOE sources point out that Brussels is launching an ultimatum to the PP, although they suspect that this will have little effect because it is not the first time that this demand has been raised without any success.
If the renewal does not arrive in the coming weeks and Lesmes resigns, the blockade will be established in the Constitutional Court. Council sources warn that if this happens, the Conservatives will definitively stop the two appointments that correspond to him.
To begin with, the second meeting between the interlocutors of the two blocs was held yesterday and the Conservatives continue without presenting any candidate on the grounds that they have not yet found the ideal one. The progressives want to force an agreement for the plenary session to be held next Thursday, but without real hope that this can happen.
In that scenario, the Government will have to decide whether to appoint its two TC magistrates. The Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, defends that it be done, although other government sources doubt its constitutionality because the Magna Carta establishes the renewal of the court by thirds, that is, four by four magistrates. Llop believes that the jurisprudence of the TC itself endorses them to do so, but the Government faces the risk that the TC itself overturns the two appointments and thus all its resolutions are declared null
