In the face of a constitutional crisis

Spain is mired in a constitutional crisis

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If the democratic quality of a country is measured by the functioning of its institutions, the beheading of the Judiciary by the continued interference of the Government and political parties in its independence causes a very serious deterioration of confidence in legal security and the prevalence of the State of Law.

The EU will take note.

The resignation of Carlos Lesmes to continue presiding over the Supreme Court and the General Council of the

Judicial Power (CGPJ) is the consequence of the tension to which the Executive has subjected the institutions in recent years and, specifically, the Justice, to subjugate it in harmony with its pro-independence and solvent partners.

The PP is not innocent, because the first failure to renew the CGPJ occurred in 2018 after it became clear that it intended to keep corruption cases under control.

The credibility of the system of parliamentary election of members is thus on the ground and its reform is urgent as required by the EU.

Lesmes's resignation occurs at a time of maximum deterioration of the prestige of Justice.

Especially in recent months, when the Government has tried to take the Constitutional Court by storm regardless of any consensus, coinciding with the agreement announced with the ERC to "dejudicialize" the

and ignoring the sentences that force to apply 25% of Castilian in the classrooms of Catalonia.

Before the summer, the Government humiliated the CGPJ by exclusively giving it back the powers to appoint two magistrates of the High Court -essential for the Executive to be able to appoint the two that correspond to it and alter the majority for the first time in nine years- but not for the rest of the judicial bodies, which are on the verge of collapse.

The members and the whole of the Judiciary interpreted it as blackmail.

This spirit became even more brittle as the strategy of the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, advanced.

First, the law was changed again to impose an ultimatum, then the bridges with the PP were broken when the amazing details of the negotiation with the previous leadership were leaked

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On September 5, this newspaper reported the pressure to which the Executive was subjecting Lesmes and he responded with a historic admonition during the opening of the Judicial Year.

The last step before last night's resignation was the panoply of disqualifications to the European Commissioner Didier Reynders after demanding the change in the election system.

Reynders set a date: before Pedro Sánchez assumes the presidency of the EU in 2023. And something has changed:

If the two great parties retain a vocation for State,

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That the judges choose the 12 judicial members is the guarantee of their independence.

As requested by the EU.

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