The Government Chamber of the Supreme Court has taken the floor in the judicial crisis that is currently being experienced with the blockade in the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which is already on its way to four years in office. The magistrates that compose it have decided, unanimously, to issue an agreement after the announcement by its president, Carlos Lesmes, of an upcoming resignation if there is not an immediate renewal.
In addition to "deeply" regretting that his president, "whom he supports," may "be forced to resign from office," he expressed his confidence that the Congress of Deputies and the Senate will fulfill "without further delay their constitutional obligations before arriving to this point."
This has been recorded in an agreement after analyzing the report on the eventual substitution in the ownership of the presidency of the Supreme Court and the CGPJ, issued by the director of the Technical Cabinet of the body of judges.
This report was required by Lesmes himself last week in an attempt to step forward and warn that his threat to resign if there is no agreement once and for all to renew the Council is serious.
The report established who should assume the powers as president, both of the TS and of the CGPJ, if Lesmes resigns. The conclusion of the Technical Cabinet is that the substitute must be the most senior magistrate of the high court, that is, the current president of the Civil Chamber, Francisco Marín.
This situation resulting from the blockade has caused, in the words of Lesmes himself, the "collapse" of the Supreme Court. The PSOE approved a reform of the law last year by which the CGPJ is prohibited from making appointments while it is in office. The Socialists promoted this modification to pressure the PP to sit down and negotiate the renewal, after the "popular" refused to comply with the constitutional mandate.
However, this reform has caused the CGPJ to make appointments of Supreme Court magistrates to fill vacancies due to death and retirement, which is causing a collapse in the chambers.
This agreement will be exposed by Lesmes to the Commissioner for Justice of the European Union, Didier Reynders, who visits Spain this week to meet with the different parties and urge that there be a renewal of the body as urgently as possible.
