While half of Spain enjoyed the festive long weekend, the political and media bubble did not give itself a truce even on the birthday of the Constitution. The entrenched renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary, the controversial amnesty law proposal and the abrupt break between Podemos and Sumar, made official the day before, monopolized public statements and private conversations yesterday during the celebration of the anniversary of the Magna Carta in the Congress.
Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo did not greet each other, nor did they even try, with the excuse of the crowd of guests and the resulting difficulty of movement in a crowded Hall of Lost Steps, after the speech by the president of the Congress, Francina Armengol – which was again questioned by the Popular Party –, during the traditional circles with the press.
The President of the Government, in conversation with journalists, confirmed his intention to call a meeting with the leader of the PP, "before the end of the year", to try to agree on three issues in his opinion that are priority in this new legislature, for which The consensus of the two major parties is essential.
Firstly, the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which has just completed five years of its expired mandate. Also a new regional financing system, which in turn has been out of date for nine years. And finally, a specific reform of the Constitution, to eliminate the term “disabled” in reference to the disabled.
After finding out about the proposal, Feijóo replied to journalists that whenever the president calls him he will attend the meeting, but he seemed annoyed by the manner and warned that he would prefer to know Sánchez's intentions, and the agenda of a possible meeting. directly and not through the press.
Even before the event began, however, the President of the Government and the leader of the PP had already reiterated their antagonistic positions on the renewal of the governing body of the judges. Feijóo, who denounced “the continuous attack on the institutions” by Sánchez, and in this case his attempt to “control the Judiciary,” warned him that he is “sliding down a very dangerous slope that is the tacit repeal of the Constitution.” ”.
And he rejected Sánchez's claim to renew the CGPJ without, at the same time, reforming the organic law of the Judiciary to modify the system of election of members and for the judges themselves to elect them. “I cannot be complicit in the control of State institutions, in any case,” argued Feijóo, in defense of judicial independence.
Sánchez, in turn, urged Feijóo to renew the CGPJ, before debating legislative reforms. “Before devotion, there is obligation,” he demanded of the PP leader, resorting to the proverb. “At the beginning of this legislature, there are no more excuses,” he urged.
The Chief Executive showed his willingness to seal an agreement in this regard with Feijóo. But he warned: “I am not going to accept conditions.” And he insisted on using the “clear and crystalline” position of the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, that the CGPJ be renewed first, and only then a reform of the system of electing its members be debated.
“I urge the PP to comply with its constitutional mandate to renew the CGPJ during this legislature,” he demanded. Although without great expectations, since the PSOE deduced from Feijóo's words that "he remains castled."
Sánchez and Feijóo also did not agree in their assessment of the words of the president of Congress, the socialist Francina Armengol, at the event. The President of the Government celebrated it as “a committed speech.” But the leader of the PP again showed misgivings, regarding a paragraph that his team interpreted as a defense of the right to self-determination. Armengol, in her speech, celebrated the territorial model of the eighth title of the Constitution, which “leaves the way open to advance in the process of bringing decision-making closer to citizens.”
Despite the complicated connection of this reflection with self-determination, the Congress president's team was forced to clarify that Armengol spoke of strengthening the autonomous state. “Bringing decision-making closer to citizens means that the regional government is closer to the citizen,” they argued.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, present at the event along with other regional presidents of the PP, avoided making statements that would take focus away from Feijóo. And Vox, which did attend the raising of the flag in the Senate, avoided appearing in Congress, only to denounce the “hypocrisy” of a PSOE that “celebrates a Constitution that it tramples every day”, now for wanting to “amnesty criminals” . Sánchez himself justified the amnesty in the groups, and criticized that the PP and Vox try to create a “dramatic” political and social environment that does not exist on the street. “They are running a marathon as if it were a hundred-meter race,” he warned, before a legislature that, he insisted, will last for four years.
A legislature that did not see any risk in the face of Podemos's break with Sumar, about which the day before he had a conversation with Yolanda Díaz, while Ione Belerra confirmed to Félix Bolaños that the stability of the Government would not be in danger. “A left-wing party is not going to jeopardize the policies of a progressive government,” they assumed in Moncloa. “But we will have to negotiate more,” Sánchez admitted.
