The Popular Party faction has registered in Congress a bill to change the voting system for members of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). The PP insists that judges and prosecutors themselves appoint the 12 members of the judiciary, that entry requirements be tightened and that incompatibilities with holding public office be introduced. However, some of the measures contained in the text were part of the agreement that the formation of Alberto Núñez Feijóo agreed with the government in October as part of the negotiations for the renewal of the judiciary, which was finally blown up with the unilateral exit of the popular.
The PP continues to refuse to renew the mandate of the members of the judiciary, which has expired more than four years despite the obligation required by the constitution. “Feijóo’s proposal is to give more independence to the judiciary,” said Juan Bravo, the PP’s deputy economic secretary, in an interview on TVE this Tuesday, repeating that this renewal did not happen because the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was have done “he had promised he would not do it”; that is, the suppression of the crime of sedition and its replacement by a new criminal species of aggravated public disorder.
According to the people’s proposal, it would be the judges and prosecutors themselves who would choose the 12 members of the turn of judicial origin. A condition that the PP had previously demanded, but which had not been reflected in a concrete draft law. Therefore, the text tabled in the House of Commons, registered on December 30 and advanced by El Mundo, represents a further step in their aspirations. They are also demanding that those who have held an elected or political position in the last five years cannot aspire to these positions.
However, the popular initiative provides that Congress and Senate would again elect the eight lawyers with a three-fifths majority. Other requirements will also be introduced to gain access to other positions in the judicial career. In particular, the practice period required to be eligible for a position with the various Supreme Courts is extended to 15 years and for the Supreme Court to 20 years. “We registered a proposal for us to restore the true meaning of the separation of powers that the Constitution entails. But above all, also to protect the judiciary from politicians like Pedro Sánchez, who only think about how to control other powers and the control of independent bodies,” said Cuca Gamarra, parliamentary speaker of the PP, in a press conference, also this Tuesday.
Ever since this body was set up, the system for electing judges has been the subject of repeated debates. The Constitutional Court, in a 1986 ruling, endorsed the method endorsed in 1985, which is for Congress and Senate to nominate from a list of candidates the 12 judges and prosecutors who are to become members of the CGPJ.
Finance Minister María Jesús Montero responded to the proposal from the people of Seville: “We have been dealing with this violation for more than four years [de la Constitución], which is produced by a party that has an appeal to the government. And therefore to appeal to the reputation of all institutions so that they renew themselves. The General Council of the Judiciary must return to normal, as we did with the Constitutional Court at the end of the year.” A criticism joined by the PSOE on social networks: “What will the Magi bring us? Excuses and more excuses to keep blocking the CGPJ,” the Socialists censored via Twitter.
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In the draft law presented by the PP, the advocates of the people justify their proposal with the “line that the European authorities are demanding from their member countries in order to improve the trust of the citizens in their institutions, the perception of judicial independence and the commitment of political forces, to improve contribute to the quality of democracy”. Brussels has demanded that Spain implement a reform of the system for electing judges, but it has also demanded that the current General Council of the Judiciary be renewed first, something Feijóo has refused to do since he took office as leader of the main opposition party. The leader of the PP went so far as to say in early December that he had blocked the renewal of the judiciary “to protect it from the Sánchez government”.
The PP already promised in its 2011 election manifesto, when Mariano Rajoy ran as a candidate for the presidency of the government, that the judges would be the ones who appoint the prosecutors. But once in the executive and with an absolute majority, they did not implement these changes. Instead, they appointed the new members under the current system as early as 2013.
Five years later, in 2018, Casado’s PSOE and PP agreed to renew the council with a progressive majority and chaired by Manuel Marchena, a conservative-minded judge, also in accordance with current regulations. The pact was not forged because of a leaked message that Ignacio Cosidó, then PP spokesman in the Senate, sent to the popular senators justifying the agreement because in this way the party would be able to “take the second chamber of the Supreme Court control through the back door”. . Marchena resigned, beginning the long road of institutional deadlock that continues to this day, leaving a trail of excuses put forward by the populace for not renewing the CGPJ.
Shortly after Marchena’s departure, legislators also proposed a reform of the CGPJ members’ electoral system, similar to that which has now been registered, through changes incorporated into an initiative proposed by Ciudadanos to amend the Organic Law of the Judiciary. The text was rejected in December 2018 by 176 votes and supported by the 164 MPs from the PP and the Orange Party who were present. The draft law submitted by the PP at the end of the year that has just ended does not seem to be working either, as it does not have the necessary support in the lower house.