The rupture by the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of the negotiations to renew the body of judges has reoriented the positions of the conservative bloc of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). Just a few days ago, this sector had abandoned any attempt to appoint the two magistrates of the Constitutional Court that correspond to it.
However, after the lock of Feijóo, the eight members that make up this block have decided to resume negotiations and look for their candidate in anticipation that the CGPJ will be blocked until at least 2024, which would mean more than five years of expired mandate.
The conservatives are going to study the possibilities that exist in a telematic meeting that begins late this afternoon. The forecast is that they agree to restart the search for a candidate to try to present a name in the plenary session at the end of this month, according to sources in this sector.
Progressives already have their most advanced names. Currently, they are only debated between two, but sources from this bloc maintain that once the conservatives have theirs, they will not put any impediment to bearing a clear name.
The body had until September 13 to reach an agreement between conservatives and progressives to propose their two names. The deadline was set after a last-minute reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ) in July, to force the body to elect its two candidates so that the Government could guarantee to appoint its own two and thus give a turnaround of majorities within the TC.
However, the Conservatives have refused to meet that date under the excuse of not finding any candidates. The resignation of Carlos Lesmes as president of the CGPJ and the Supreme Court made matters worse and the negotiations between the two blocs were considered dissolved.
The rapprochement between PSOE and PP that presaged a pact to renew the governing body of the judges after the resignation of Lesmes caused the talks to elect the TC magistrates to be paralyzed.
However, once it has already been broken and there are no signs that the PP will sit down to negotiate with the PSOE again, the Conservatives have reoriented their policy. Now they are willing to make a new search among Supreme Court magistrates who want to go to the Constitutional Court, although they encounter a new stumbling block.
After the resignation of Lesmes, the CGPJ elected its oldest member, Rafael Mozo, as acting president, a decision appealed before the Contentious Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court by one of the members and by the general secretary of the body, who consider that the substitute should be the most senior magistrate of the Supreme Court, in this case Francisco Marín, and that, therefore, the CGPJ has exceeded its functions.
The doubts that now arise within the body is that if the plenary makes any decision, such as the election of two magistrates of the TC, in the future it could be annulled if the Supreme considers the resources raised.
