Despite the harsh and tense atmosphere that dominates the relationship between the PSOE and the PP, Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo reached this Friday their first agreement, which will include the third concrete constitutional reform in 45 years. The meeting held today between the President of the Government and the Leader of the Opposition had two fruits: the first, already concluded, the agreement to explicitly amend Article 49 of the Basic Law in January to delete the term “disabled” and replace it with “people with disabilities”; and the second, also highlighted, although more uncertain, the pact that the European Commission will mediate in the negotiations, both of which will be resumed with the aim of renewing the General Council of Justice (CGPJ), which has been pending for more than five years is. A proposal for EU mediation or “surveillance” that the PP put on the table and that the PSOE accepted.
The CGPJ, the governing body of all judges in Spain, is composed of 20 members: 12 judges and 8 jurists of recognized standing. They are all appointed by Congress and the Senate by a three-fifths majority (which is why the consent of the two main parties is required), although in the case of the 12 justices, the chambers decide based on a list of candidates drawn up by their own race judges. The PP is ready to renew the body with the current system, but demands that at the same time a bill signed by the People's and Socialists be “registered” to change the method of electing the Council in the next renewal – which would take place within five years – so that the judges are the ones who directly elect the twelve judges, without Parliament having the final say in this case. In La Moncloa they are not thinking about this scenario and are sure that Brussels, in its mediating role, will agree with the Socialists and note that the renewal of the CGPJ does not depend on the simultaneous change of the law that regulates its choice of components. .
The Commissioner for Justice, the liberal Didier Reynders, called at the beginning of December, as he has done time and again, to “urgently” renew the CGPJ and “immediately thereafter” to begin reforming the system for electing its members, leaving Of course this is the order of events that Brussels prefers, although he added that he was open to considering alternative solutions if PSOE and PP agreed.
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“It is important to bring institutional and constitutional normality to the main governing body of judges and to renew the CGPJ. Today that door is opened to make this possible through the mediation and verification of the European Commission. “We welcome all the proposed formulas to allow the renewal of the CGPJ once and for all,” said executive spokesperson Pilar Alegría, who avoided clarifying whether the PSOE would be willing to consider the legal change it proposed PP. to change the model of choice.
The PSOE and the PP were close to agreeing on a renewal of the CGPJ in autumn 2022. Feijóo broke off these negotiations when he learned that the government had agreed with the ERC to reform the penal code to abolish the crime of sedition then – at As before that moment, he gave other reasons or pretexts for refusing to negotiate. Government sources emphasize that the agreement to renew the judicial body was “fully closed” on October 26, 2022, with an agreement on 32 names (20 regular members and 12 alternates) and a commitment to advance a bill to strengthen the judiciary. “The agreement was reached when the PP already knew and was asked about it that sedition reform was on the table,” they say. On the contrary, the representatives claim that Minister Félix Bolaños lied to them on this point.
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Mediation
Feijóo's appearance at a press conference after meeting Sánchez came just as news of the lottery jackpot broke. The room was immersed in a murmur of journalists and consultants while the PP leader asked at the lectern about the winning number. As he took the floor, Feijóo unleashed the joke he had prepared for the special day he met with the president: “Spain also did not have the fatso reserved for the partners of the government and the independence movement .” The opposition leader initially wanted to downgrade the result of the meeting, which lasted just over an hour and a half: “The meeting met expectations.” Very little was expected and we achieved little,” he said. However, he had just agreed with the district president on two important issues.
The negotiations for the renewal of the CGPJ, which have been interrupted for a year, are resuming, but with the novelty that they will be “supervised” – in Feijóo's words – by the European Commission, which is present at the meetings between the two PSOE negotiators and PSOE negotiators must be PP: the Minister of Justice Félix Bolaños and the deputy institutional secretary of the PP, Esteban González Pons. The government intends for everyone to meet next week. Feijóo tried to exclude Bolaños from the talks, whom he accused of having “repeatedly lied” to the PP in the previous phase, but Sánchez responded that his minister's presence was non-negotiable and that the popular leader had compromised.
Feijóo suggested to Sánchez the mediation of the European Commission after, as he explained, the PP carried out a “discreet survey” in which it confirmed that the community institution was ready to assume this role between Bolaños and González Pons. The people's representatives consider that the “suitable” and “appropriate” person for this role is the Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders and the idea is for him to be present at the meetings. The government does not think this is a bad thing and does not address who the mediators should be: its aim is to balance the agendas and ensure that Bolaños and González Pons resume negotiations before the end of the year. “We are delighted,” they summarized in La Moncloa the Brussels mediation proposed by Feijóo and the conditions for concluding the negotiations.
The leader of the PP justified his proposal that the Commission should “monitor” the negotiations with the same argument that the pro-independence parties use to defend the presence of international mediators in their talks with the government: that he does not trust Pedro Sánchez. However, Feijóo defended that the European Commission cannot be compared to the mediators proposed by the independents for three reasons: the Community institution is a “Spanish” institution, since Spain deposits part of its sovereignty in the EU; that the monitoring would be carried out “with transparency” and that the Commission had actually already mediated to some extent in its meetings with both parties, although these had previously been separate and would now take place in tripartite meetings.
“I understand that they are making similarities of this nature. To be honest, if the government’s partners do not trust the government, it is very difficult for the opposition to trust the government,” Feijóo said. “I understand your suspicions, but I ask for respect for the European Commission, which is a Spanish institution. “To equate the commission with a Salvadoran intermediary specializing in armed gangs, something neither politicians nor the Spanish media can fall for,” he said, referring to Francisco Galindo, the auditor of the dialogue between the PSOE and the Junts. “How could the Commission monitor the rule of law in Spain better than the Commission?” reiterated the PP leader. The government spokeswoman did not miss the opportunity that the PP offered her after the criticism of the last few months: during her appearance, Alegría emphasized five times the “mediation and verification” role that the European Commission would play.
Government spokesperson and Education Minister Pilar Alegría gave details of the meeting at a press conference at the Moncloa Palace.Daniel Gonzalez (EFE)
“Disabled” instead of “disabled”
The other issue Sánchez and Feijóo agreed on is a surgical constitutional reform to remove the term “disabled” from the constitution and replace it with “people with disabilities.” The condition for the agreement is the retention of the text that the PSOE and PP had already agreed on months ago and the presentation of a joint reform proposal by December 31st of this year. In addition, both parties undertake to only accept amendments from other groups if the PP and PSOE agree to them. In no case will there be a referendum on the reform – something that 35 congressmen could request – and in January there will be a monographic plenary session with the only point of amendment to this Article 49. “It is a social justice” and necessary reform “that responds to a debt of our country towards people with disabilities and that will find a great consensus,” emphasized Alegría, who recalled that Sánchez had already said this in their first meeting in April 2022 had addressed Feijóo.
The reform of Article 49 was already taken for granted at the beginning of the year. Bolaños and PP Secretary General Cuca Gamarra arrived to present an agreed text at a meeting with the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (Cermi), according to sources familiar with the negotiations. But the electoral calendar of March 28 and June 23 destroyed this initiative. The PP has called on the PSOE to ensure that Sumar, the minority partner in the coalition government, explicitly refrains from calling for a referendum on this minimal constitutional reform. This could be requested by 35 representatives (10% of congressmen); Sumar has 26 and ERC, Junts, EH Bildu, PNV, Podemos and the BNG group another 31. The popular parties fear that these groups want to use the opportunity to initiate greater questioning of the constitution through a referendum. However, this is a scenario that the coalition government sources consulted completely reject.
In case there was any doubt, the second vice president and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, was blunt this Friday: “The reform of Article 49 will make us a better country and should have the support of all political parties. “I ask Mr. Feijóo to put aside excuses and lies and put the rights of people with disabilities first,” he said on X (formerly Twitter). The first initiative of Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Social Rights in Sumar, was a declaration of unconditional support for the reform of Article 49. “This will expand the rights of millions of people with disabilities in Spain.” I trust that it will be done quickly and is moving forward with the unanimous support of all parties,” he said.
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 has only been reformed twice, both through the ordinary procedure. The first, in 1992, gave Community citizens the right to stand in local elections, as provided for in the Maastricht Treaty on European Union. The second in 2011 to introduce the concept of fiscal stability during the economic crisis of 2008.
However, the popular leader failed this Friday in his attempt to persuade Sánchez to defeat the motion of censure in Pamplona, on which the PSOE voted with EH Bildu and which will be voted on December 28, and to withdraw and reverse the amnesty law He approved some of the appointments to institutions such as the Attorney General's Office. There was also no agreement with the financing system: the current model was designed and approved in 2009 and has been in the process of being renewed since 2014. Despite the deep differences of opinion between the two, at least the day of the lottery left behind an initial thaw as a reward.
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