On the day that marks five years with the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) with its mandate expired, without a solution to the blockade being contemplated in the short and medium term due to the lack of agreement between the PSOE and the Popular Party for its renewal, both the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and several members of his coalition Executive have denounced the situation, and have demanded that Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party agree to its renewal.
Pedro Sánchez has thus clearly recognized the existence of 'lawfare' in Spain, at least in its meaning of the use of justice for partisan purposes. Despite the fact that the recognition of 'lawfare' in our country, included in the political agreement of the investiture signed between the PSOE and Junts, set all judicial associations and all legal agents on fire, the President of the Government has assured that the “case “The most paradigmatic” of this “politicization of justice” in Spain is the “kidnapping” that the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has been reported to suffer at the hands of the Popular Party of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, by keeping its renewal blocked for five years. years.
“In Spain there is no problem of separation of powers, in Spain there is a problem that the main opposition party has the Judiciary hostage, imprisoned, captured,” Sánchez denounced in an interview given this Monday to Cadena Ser. “We have had five years of blockade and five years of progressive government, there is no need to make a sketch for people to understand the motivations behind this blockade of the PP,” Sánchez assured.
“And the consequences are terrible, but not for the judges but also for the citizens, who see how justice deteriorates even more as a result of an interest that is not at all constitutional,” lamented the head of the Executive.
“There is a meaning of ‘lawfare’ which is the politicization of justice. And there is no more paradigmatic case of 'lawfare' and politicization of justice in Spain than this kidnapping in which the PP has plunged the Judiciary," Sánchez stressed on Cadena Ser.
The socialist leader has pointed out that he would “like” to contact the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to once and for all agree on this matter. However, he has not revealed how this communication will begin, and has limited himself to regretting that the PP has become Vox's "twin" for assuming its political theses.
Along the same lines, the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, has called on the PP to renew the Council "for the good of Spain" and to resolve the "concern" of the European Commission about this breach lasting five years. "I ask you to comply with the law, to comply with the Constitution and to do it for the good of Spain, for the good name of Spain, because this is indeed a concern of the European Commission, that the General Council of the Judiciary has already been years without having been renewed," Bolaños assured the press upon his arrival at the European Council of Justice Ministers being held today in Brussels.
"Today is a sad day for Spanish democracy, because today marks the end of five years of blockade by the Popular Party of the Government of the judges and therefore five years of non-compliance with the law and the Constitution by the Popular Party," he said. lamented Bolaños. For the minister, "it is a real shame, a very serious behavior that is not only discrediting the General Council of the Judiciary, which in itself would be serious, but above all it is beginning to damage, of course, justice itself. and also to citizens who want effective judicial protection." "I hope that they understand in the Popular Party that this situation of non-compliance with the law, of open non-compliance with the law of the Constitution by the PP, cannot be maintained for another day, that four more years in this situation would be the total collapse of justice," added the head of Justice. And therefore, he has insisted on his call to the Popular Party "to comply with a law that, by the way, was agreed when the Popular Party was in government, in 2001, it was agreed with the socialist party that was at that time in the opposition," he said. And he has stressed that it is "a balanced model and that" it has worked well for decades and that it has given stability to justice."
For her part, the second vice president of the Government and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, urged the PP to “strict compliance with article 122, second section, of the Constitution”, which establishes the renewal procedure of the CGPJ. "Those who say they are constitutionalists should comply with the Constitution," she urged. “If the Popular Party is a constitutional party, as it reiterates to us, it must comply with the constitutional mandate,” Díaz reasoned upon her arrival at today's edition of 'Los breakfasts del Ateneo'.
Díaz has accused the PP of "not only being involved in the policies of destruction, but also not respecting the constitutional mandate or the institutions, which belong to the citizens." And he continued: “I urge the Popular Party to stop engaging in pure partisanship with the executive bodies of the Judiciary and to comply as democrats with our country.” And he has stated: “Those who say they are constitutionalists, in these days when we are on the eve of [the anniversary of] the Constitution, must comply with it.”
