Poll 43% of PSOE voters want the judges to choose the CGPJ as requested by the EU and the PP
Justice Lesmes denounces the Government's attacks on judicial independence and urges the PSOE and PP to renew the CGPJ "in the coming weeks"
The four major associations of Spanish judges have traveled to
Brussels
this Monday to
lobby for the renewal (and reform of the election system) of the CGPJ.
The
Professional Association of the Magistracy
, the
Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association
, the
Independent Judicial Forum
and
Judges for Democracy
have met with the Commissioner of Justice,
Didier Reynders,
and they have drawn up a joint communiqué demanding that "the two common objectives that we indicated in our joint communiqué of September 13, 2021 be met: the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary and the reform of the system for electing the judicial members of the Council. ".
The
European Commission
has spoken out repeatedly in the last two years on the issue. His position appeared in the
First Report on the Rule of Law
and again in the second, culminating in July. But also in various demonstrations by commissioners, senior community officials and spokespersons. Brussels urges the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary and regrets the paralysis that has prevented it for years. But he also calls on the government and the opposition to agree.
But beyond the petition, the Commission has made it clear that it does not look favorably on the system for electing members. The EU recommends the standards set by the specialized group of the
Council of Europe
, which advocates leaving the choice of at least 50% of the CGPJ in the hands of the judges, something to which the Government is turning a deaf ear. It is a delicate, complicated and very sensitive issue, but the Commission has used the mechanisms at its disposal, and the media, but to show the colors of Moncloa in the last year due to the reform attempt promoted by the PSOE and United We Can, That went against those preferences and recommendations.
Commissioners Reynders and
Jourova
have come to the fore to pressure and dissuade and the messages in private, to ambassadors, deputies and various ministers (or former ministers at this point) of the Executive have been blunt. The risk for Pedro Sánchez is the comparison with
Poland
, the country that has the most problems and the black beast in this matter. The EU has taken
the tribes
to
Warsaw
and the warning to
Madrid
It was very clear: if the path preferred by Sánchez was followed, an infringement procedure would be opened and both partners would be put in the same bag, at an enormous cost to public image and reputation.
The government accepted, at least partially, the defeat and backed down with its reform project, although some of the new ministers have maintained the rhetoric and the pulse.
Separate meetings
The associations have sent a joint statement, but with differences. Judges for Democracy have met with the commissioner alone, while the other three associations, considered conservative, have done so together. The first calls for the reform of the CGPJ and its renewal, while the opposition to Sánchez calls for the renewal and then discuss the reform. "From Judges and Judges for Democracy, the commissioner has been requested to request the Spanish political parties to proceed without delay to the immediate renewal of the Council in accordance with current legislation, also given the loss of credibility and degradation in which it it's found.This does not prevent the renewed Council from initiating a subsequent calm and constructive parliamentary procedure to establish a consensual election system with a vocation of permanence. From the Professional Association of the Judiciary, Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association and Independent Judicial Forum, we have insisted on the need for the European Union to maintain the firm commitment it has shown so far so that our Council of the Judiciary complies with the European standard, according to which at least half of its members must be judges democratically elected by the judges, "says the agreed text." The three associations have proposed an immediate change in the system of election of the members, in such a way that the mixed system is fulfilled of designation, as claimed by the European Commission,the Council of Europe, the majority of citizens and 90% of the judicial career ", concludes the statement.
For Reynders the issue has become a toothache. For the publication of the Report on the Rule of Law, in July, his team had dozens of meetings with all those involved in the sector, from the Government to the magistrates through lawyers and prosecutors. The thing should have been there, but the Belgian is aware of
Moncloa's
maneuvers
, of the few advances and want movement.
Brussels comes out of the political difficulty, the entrenchment and believes that the summer break was understandable (since it was when the Government and position were summoned to reopen the negotiation) but they will do everything possible to accelerate the steps and to tell the Executive that it is not only rhetoric.
That is why the meeting with the associations and why his direct words, beyond a mere almost informal communication, as is usual after these meetings, which occur by the dozen every month.
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Poland
Madrid
Politics Pablo Casado challenges the PSOE to negotiate the CGPJ on Monday "if what Europe and the Constitution say is respected"
Politics Felix Bolaños defends against the EU and the Constitutional Court that judges do not elect judges
SpainLesmes denounces the Government's attacks on judicial independence and urges the PSOE and PP to renew the CGPJ "in the coming weeks"
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