The judicial crisis has entered a point of no return. The resignation of the president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Carlos Lesmes, last Monday has set off all the alarms. Now, the Government and the PP have begun to seriously negotiate the renewal of a body that has expired for nearly four years. In recent days the pressure has been increasing. The two main judicial associations Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM) and Judges for Democracy (JJpD) have come out again to demand immediate unblocking in the face of the damage being done to the image of the judicial system itself. The renewal, they claim, must come now, without further excuses. Another thing is what happens next.
The conservative APM, the majority among the associations, defends that twelve of the twenty be chosen directly by the judicial career. The progressive, although she recognizes that the current system is not a perfect one, believes that it is just as valid as that of other European countries. Nor do they agree on who is responsible for this situation.
The invitations to the 12-O parade, error or provocation?
Some arrived late and others did not arrive at all. It was an oversight, I don't know if it was voluntary or not. The judiciary had to be represented in the parade. It is one more in the front. We are already seeing it.
Are we in the worst moment of politicization of justice?
We are facing a critical situation because the politicians do not reach an agreement. You can't keep up the slack and the 12-O parade was one more test. We've had a pretty bad season, with constant attacks, attempts to discredit our image because that's how our judicial decisions are discredited.
Who wins with this lock?
The Executive has colonized the legislative power and wants to do the same with the judiciary. There is a will to control.
Did Lesmes do the right thing by resigning?
It was the best decision, although it was late. He should have seen that they had emptied his powers with last year's reform by which the CGPJ is prevented from appointing magistrates while he is in office. The law is being twisted at will as an instrument to benefit the political interests of the Government. A disgusting handling of the CGPJ is being done. He had to resign the day after the opening of the judicial year. Speculation this month has been pernicious.
Do you trust the renewal?
The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, said that now he was serious. I don't know if it was a drill before. The interlocutor of the PP, Esteban González Pons, said that it was the last chance. And no, you have to give yourself as many as you need. This situation of unprecedented institutional crisis is unfortunate in a rule of law. All the necessary attempts have to be made, it is a constitutional obligation and to comply with the Constitution it is not done with just one attempt.
Renovate or renovate?
The Commissioner for Justice of the European Union, Didier Reynders, already said that it had to be renewed with the commitment to reform. And he has said it: it is necessary to renew now. Let's be realistic, the socialists do not want to change the law and the PP that is not in government now says that it is necessary to reform. We will see if an agreement is reached.
How should that reform be?
A rule that allows judges to elect the 12 members from the judicial career in elections with direct voting and open lists. The other eight members, the jurists of recognized prestige, who are elected by the Congress and the Senate by a three-fifths majority. What he says now is that the twelve come from lists of associations or judges with 25 endorsements, it's a milonga. That favors the party on duty saying: 'hey, introduce yourself, then we're going to choose you'. What's wrong with reforming? We want to elect our governing body. This judicial system is not working. The proof is the almost four years of blockade.
Is the image of politicization going to be reversed?
I trust the new members and I hope they don't do what Lesmes did and that they don't abandon communication. This Council has been silent, it has never come out in defense of the judges.
Was what happened on 12-O a protocol error?
For our association, what happened does not have enough entity to value it.
Do you applaud the resignation of Lesmes?
It has been a magnificent decision, coherent and responsible. I personally asked him a year ago.
Has it had an effect?
It seems that yes because they have begun to negotiate.
Who is responsible for blocking the CGPJ?
The PP is the one who blocks. In July 2018, with Ignacio Cosidó's watsap, the process was suspended and it was at that time that they began with a series of excuses, from the Andalusian elections, the Catalan elections or the absence of the King in the Judicial School, which had nothing to do with with the renewal process of the CGPJ or with the Constitution.
Is it necessary to reform the law as a European brand?
Now it must be renewed immediately. If later the parliamentary groups decide to reform and have a majority for it, it is their competence. We respect the separation of powers.
Judges for Democracy, what do you defend?
We have not argued that this reform is necessary. The current reform with a presidential system was imposed by Alberto Ruiz Gallardón. Now the PP does not like it but it did like it when José María Aznar ruled. In Europe there are different systems and the important thing is that the one chosen works well.
And now it works fine?
All systems can be improved but we have an acceptable system.
However, it has expired almost four years...
When the Constitution and the LOPJ were made, it was not expected that this extreme would be reached. The law did not contemplate that a specific party would block it. That does have to be reformed.
Is the 2021 reform justifiable by which it prevents the CGPJ from making appointments while it is in office?
It was yet another weapon to promote the negotiation, just like the resignation of Lesmes. If it had been renewed on time we would have avoided these problems.
And the counter-reform of July that returned to the Council the ability to appoint but only the magistrates of the TC?
The mandate of the TC expired in June and there was a need to fill those positions because those magistrates cannot review laws as important as abortion if they have expired. If it had been renewed, all these legislative changes would have been avoided. There was also no precedent. It is a democratic abnormality.
The PP wants to prevent profiles that come from politics from ending up in the CGPJ.
Let them tell Lesmes, who was CEO for eight years. The revolving doors is another reform. Why not.
What do you think that the conservatives of the CGPJ block the appointment of two magistrates of the TC?
Citizens cannot be asked to comply with legal deadlines and we cannot. It is a bit surprising that they do not find great jurists to go to the TC. But this happens for having been in office for four years.
