Marta Belver La Coruña
La Coruna
Updated Saturday, January 20, 2024-02:07
PSOE Sánchez converts the "fully constitutional" amnesty into a pillar of its new ideology and emphasizes that the referendums were "under PP governments"
Politics From Granada to La Coruña: Sánchez transfers the "wall" in front of the right to the ideology of the PSOE
On Friday he left the PSOE's first major setback in defending the amnesty.
In his offensive, he stepped on mined ground.
After a week managing the noise derived from the partial amendments to the Amnesty Law, from the reports of lawyers against that norm, from the meetings with Junts in Congress..., the Government lost control of the message and the argument , to the point of having to rectify, qualify, retreat, so as not to be marked by an accusation against the judges, just when the opposition conveys to Europe the dangers for the rule of law and the separation of powers in Spain.
There were three hours of astonishment in the PSOE, the time that goes from the statements of Vice President
Teresa Ribera
against Judge
Manuel García-Castellón
(8:44 hours) to a statement from the Government itself disavowing her without citing her (11:42), well His comments broke with the line of respect for Justice that Moncloa had tried to sell these days.
And that
Félix Bolaños
had transferred to the judicial associations throughout this week.
Between Ribera and the withdrawal of the Government, the PP was quick: at 10:29, they anticipated it with a statement demanding explanations.
The third vice president of the Government made a public statement about one of the judges investigating the derivatives of the
process
.
In an interview on TVE, Ribera maintained that García-Castellón "has an important political involvement and usually comes up at sensitive moments," after this Thursday he insisted on charging former
Catalan
president
Carles Puigdemont
with terrorism .
The Minister of Ecological Transition, who this Sunday joins the Federal Executive of the PSOE, made these statements after the judge of the National Court reaffirmed his thesis that the Supreme Court (TS) should investigate the leader of Junts for terrorism crimes in the case opened against the
Tsunami Democràtic platform.
"There are some people (...) who have a certain fondness for always speaking in the same direction and at a particularly opportune moment compared to what tend to be the statements of other colleagues within the exercise of judicial power."
She was so emphatic, in her double intervention on the matter, that the presenters showed her astonishment, first, with a "are you saying that the judge can be guided by political criteria?"
and then concluding: "As she has described it, it would be a case of
lawfare
[political persecution of justice or security forces]."
Bolaños comes forward
Ribera's statement clashed head-on with the message that the Minister of Justice had been transmitting to all judicial associations.
In fact, in a press release, released early this Friday by the Ministry of Justice, it was reported that Bolaños had communicated to the judicial groups that "the will of the Government" is to defend the independence and integrity of Justice, as well as the work of judges, male and female magistrates in the face of any questioning.
Along these lines, sources from La Moncloa jumped to point out Ribera;
"The Government always respects the decisions of the Judiciary, although sometimes it does not share some of them."
In this sense, they indicated that, "in the Tsunami case, the magistrate's decisions were appealed by the prosecutor in the case, so the legal consideration of the events that occurred as terrorism is pending appeal before the National Court itself."
And they promised to respect whatever the result was.
Ignoring the origin of the statement, the words of a member of the government itself were launched against the PP: «If in Spain there is a clear example of interventionism in the Judiciary, it is the kidnapping to which the PP is subjecting the CGPJ, blocking its renewal since "more than five years ago."
This reference to the main opposition party was explained not only to divert the focus, but also as a response, since from Genoa they had anticipated Moncloa.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo
's party
pointed out that it is "extremely serious that a vice president of the Government suggests that there are judges who prevaricate in her decision-making."
In their statement, they stressed that "Sanchism assumes the independence discourse that Justice is not impartial" and that "Ribera gives voice to those who say that there is lawfare in Spain."
And in defense of the judge, they highlighted that "the socialists did not question García-Castellón's impartiality when he investigated cases such as Púnica, Lezo or Kitchen," they added in reference to corruption cases that affected the PP.
From Genoa they demanded to know if the Minister of Justice or the Minister of Defense,
Margarita Robles
, who is a judge, had the same opinion as Ribera.
"We demand an end to the attacks on Spanish judges by the independentists, but above all, and also by the Government," they said.
Moncloa haggled quickly with its implicit denial of Ribera, but the Government's partners celebrated the words of the unauthorized vice president.
First, Podemos, long in conflict with García-Castellón himself over his investigations into the financing of the party.
Then ERC, which pointed out the judge for his "political obsession" and his intention to "incriminate the independence movement", while denying that there was terrorism in the mobilizations after the
procés
ruling .
And of course Carles Puigdemont, who accused the magistrate of "persistent violation of the rule of law" and took the opportunity to demand a "comprehensive amnesty", that is, one that includes, in line with the partial amendments with which the week started, the forgiveness for those accused of terrorism, like Puigdemont today.