The lightning judicial reform promoted by Pedro Sánchez, to circumvent the blockade of the Popular Party and renew the Constitutional Court, crashed on Monday night against the impregnable wall of the conservative majority of the body of constitutional guarantees itself.
But the President of the Government does not throw in the towel or take his foot off the accelerator. Unlike. And he has a resounding absolute majority in Congress – the same one that supports the legislature and endorses some State budgets that yesterday obtained the final green light in the Senate – to be able to redouble the pulse of the political and judicial right. That is the purpose of Sánchez, who appeared in Moncloa yesterday to guarantee that he will renew the Constitutional Court (TC), to impose a progressive majority that reflects the parliamentary majority, and even a General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) whose mandate has already expired. four years.
And all this despite the fact that, as he denounced, the PP insists on trying to "retain by spurious means a power that the citizens have not validated at the polls."
"The Government, how can it be otherwise, although we do not share the decision, we abide by the resolution adopted by the current conservative majority of the TC", assumed the head of the Executive. "And also, in accordance with the law and the Constitution, the Government will adopt as many measures as are necessary to put an end to the unjustifiable blockade of the Judiciary and the TC," he assured. "Spain is one of the great European democracies and our democratic system has mechanisms to overcome a situation of this nature," he warned. This mechanism, he added, "as befits a democracy, is none other, cannot be other, will not be other than that of the law and compliance with the Constitution."
Sánchez demanded serenity, but promised firmness. “Serenity in strict compliance with the law. And firmness to make respect for the Constitution and the popular will expressed freely in the elections prevail, ”he settled. And so he guaranteed it. It may not be before the end of the current year, as he intended, but his reaction will also bear the stamp of maximum urgency.
The Government activated its plan B yesterday. Socialist parliamentary sources confirmed that negotiations are already open with the groups of the investiture block to be able to register in Congress, even this week, a bill that, basically, will recover the two amendments incorporated into the processing of the reform of the Penal Code that paralyzed the TC, with the legislative changes that force the renewal of the body of constitutional guarantees.
“We are already talking with the groups, because we are not going to go alone,” these parliamentary sources reported. And they highlighted that the "outrage" committed on Monday by the conservative sector of the TC, in line with the PP, caused "a logical regrouping" of the groups of the investiture block, from the PNV and ERC to EH Bildu and Más País, that they agree with the Government on the urgent need to promote this renewal in the body of constitutional guarantees. The bill would be processed as a matter of urgency, and January – a non-working month in Congress – could even be enabled to speed it up.
The Government, on the other hand, rules out recovering the initiative that the PSOE and Unidas Podemos registered last year to lower the parliamentary majorities to renew, in turn, the General Council of the Judiciary. "We are not going that way," they warn, despite the fact that United We Can demand to resurrect this proposal. But this initiative was already kept in a drawer by Sánchez himself, given the misgivings expressed by the European Commission. And, therefore, now it is not an option. “We have parked that plan”, they settle.
A large absolute majority of Congress, in any case, can endorse the formula for which Sánchez is committed. Vice President Yolanda Díaz stressed that the Government will do what is necessary to end the judicial blockade and expressed herself in harsh terms against the president of the PP: "It is a crisis unleashed by Alberto Núñez Feijóo from reckless positions and from a deficient understanding of democracy" , he reproached. "The deliberate objective is that the social transformations undertaken by this government do not advance," warned Díaz.
The groups that make up the legislative majority in support of the coalition government made themselves available to reverse the current blockade of the Constitutional. This is how Gabriel Rufián (ERC), Mertxe Aizpurua (EH Bildu), Ferran Bel (PDECat), and Íñigo Errejón (Más País) spoke yesterday. The first secretary of Congress, Gerardo Pisarello, of Unidas Podemos, opted for double action: present allegations to the TC for the processing of the reform of appointments in the Senate and initiate legal reforms that circumvent this situation and prevent it from happening again: "This cannot happen again," he warned.
The person who rushed the most was Más País, who on Monday night already presented a proposal to reform the organic law of the TC, as explained by Errejón, because the "outrage has been double, to Parliament, which is sovereign to legislate, and to the law , because the Constitution has breached the very organic law that regulates it”. And he confessed that informal talks were already under way yesterday between the groups that support the government.
Rufián in turn stressed that "an institutional conflict without a plan is a giant with feet of clay" and urged the adoption of measures. ERC is also in favor of modifying the majorities of election of the high magistracies. Aitor Esteban (PNV) was more cautious and said that what is urgent is to resume the initiative through a bill from some group.
