The price that Spain's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has to pay for reaching an agreement with his political opponent is high: the two judges, who were nominated by the PP after the agreement on Thursday evening, are considered conservative.

The PP thus continues to dominate the highest court in Spain, although it has actually no longer been in government since June 2018.

This will have consequences for Spanish jurisprudence, as proceedings are pending before the Constitutional Court regarding the law on abortion and the new euthanasia law.

Most recently, the court rejected the government's actions in imposing the Corona state of emergency last year as unconstitutional.

The right-wing populist Vox party had sued.

Hans-Christian Rößler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, based in Madrid.

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Since the change of government in June 2018, a bitter dispute between the PP and Sánchez's socialist PSOE party has blocked the filling of the most important posts in the judiciary.

The agreement on the four constitutional judges signifies domestic political progress, as it was also possible to fill the Supreme Audit Office as well as the posts of data protection officer and the national ombudsman - this was where the socialist candidate came into play.

But that doesn't change the fact that conservative lawyers continue to dominate the Spanish judiciary.

PP with no interest in major changes

They came into office after the PP under Mariano Rajoy won the 2011 elections with an absolute majority. The PP was therefore not interested in major changes. In the Constitutional Court, the term of office of four of the twelve judges had expired in 2019; a member of the court resigned from office. After reaching an agreement, the PP and the socialist PSOE party each appointed two judges; four each are appointed for nine years by the parliament and the senate. The candidates of the government camp are considered to be "progressives" who are attributed to the left. The political balance there could not shift until next year. Then the ruling left-wing coalition has the right to replace two outgoing judges.

Even more urgent, however, would have been the renewal of the most important judicial body in Spain, the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). His mandate expired in 2018; there, too, conservative lawyers have the upper hand. The council appoints the presidents of the higher courts and elects two members of the constitutional court. At the same time, the supervisory body, whose head is also the President of the Supreme Court, decides on promotions.

The PP is calling for a reform of the electoral procedure to replace the members of the Judicial Council: judges and not politicians should in future elect the majority of its members - the conservative majority would therefore continue, the PSOE fears.

So far, a three-fifths majority is required for the election of twelve of the 20 members in both parliament and the Senate, which presupposes a cross-party consensus.

Meanwhile, the Spanish judiciary is making little headway in terms of gender parity.

Only three women belong to the twelve-member constitutional court.