The resignation last Wednesday of one of the eight progressive members of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) – Concepción Sáez, then elected on the proposal of the IU – has reopened a debate that most council members of the body have balked at for years: the possibility of an en bloc resignation to hasten the collapse of the institution and thereby force its renewal, which has been pending for more than four years. The CGPJ’s current mandate expired in December 2018 and since then some sectors of the judiciary have called for the collective resignation of its members, but members have always backed down on that option, calling it “irresponsible”. However, Sáez’s retirement caused a conflagration that no one expected now. The majority of the progressive block believes that it can no longer be mitigated with water and that there is no other option but to leave to ease the demolition. But few believe that this initiative will succeed.
The next week will be crucial for the future of the Council. For the first time since he took office – installed in the deadlock when the PP resisted negotiations for a renewal with the government – its membership is divided, alongside conservatives and progressives, as well as among those who insist on keeping a body alive received, all dying and those who want to give him the coup de grace. Debate has flared up among the eight progressive members, five of whom – Sáez himself and four proposed by the PSOE: Rafael Mozo, Álvaro Cuesta, Pilar Sepúlveda and Clara Martínez de Careaga – are more open to stepping down; and three – Roser Bach, Mar Cabrejas (both proposed by the PSOE) and Enrique Lucas (by the PNV) – have pledged to stay.
But there are nuances among them, too, and while some, like Cuesta, who backed the idea of a “coordinated” resignation last Thursday, are clearly in favor of leaving, others have doubts because they aren’t convinced his march will have the desired one Effect. “No one assures us that if we leave, the council will be renewed. It should be so, it is logical, but here things don’t work logically, ”warns a councilor from this sector, referring to the cases where it seemed as if everything was headed for renewal, but the PP ended up out The train exited the agreement with the government when it was almost finished and operational. “The worst that could happen is that we progressives all leave, leaving an exclusively conservative-controlled CGPJ waiting to see what happens in the election,” says this panel member.
This fear, which most progressive members have used to justify their refusal to resign in recent years, is also shared by the directors of this group, who to this day are unwilling to resign. “I don’t know if it was of much use. Although there is no quorum for the formation of the plenary session, they could continue to work with the permanent commission,” emphasizes a member of this sector, referring to the main decision-making body outside the plenary session, which in practice since the CGPJ has lost its ability through the law Make discretionary appointments while in office making most of the important decisions of the Board.
Currently, the council consists of ten conservative and eight progressive members, including the president (who will be seven by the time Sáez’s announced resignation goes through). Just as the law states that the composition of the plenary session requires a minimum quorum of ten members plus the president – which would lead to paralysis if the eight progressives resign – there are doubts as to what the situation would be for the permanent. However, there are many decisions which, once made by the standing body, must be ratified by the plenary and others that fall solely within the competence of that body, such as: B. Adopting the reports on draft laws, approving the budget or resolving the disciplinary proceedings with more severe sanctions. If MPs have so far defended that staying in office is a guarantee that the judiciary will function with a certain normality if the plenary cannot be constituted, the consequences are already being felt, one conservative MP suspects.
Nobody dares to predict whether the vocal cuesta’s proposal will be supported by the whole group – a necessary condition to leave the plenary session without a quorum – although the majority believes that this will not happen. The Association of Judges and Judges for Democracy, with a progressive tendency, to which the most vocal judges in the sector belong, this Saturday again called for the “immediate” resignation of all directors. The opposite, according to the president of this association, Ascensión Martín, makes them “accomplices in an unacceptable situation”.
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Cuesta’s decision to encourage the “coordinated” march of the entire group a few hours after Sáez’s departure has angered some members of that sector. “It’s being talked about slowly, something like that doesn’t work,” says one of them. Some admit to being baffled that the resignation of Carlos Lesmes, president of the Supreme Court and the CGPJ since 2013, last October didn’t set off a chain reaction and that of Sáez might now.
But most members interviewed also concede that the Lesmes march was seen as a symbol, a message from the highest judicial authority to the legislature to make them aware of the situation, and that it was in fact the latest expedited attempt – also unsuccessful – the Unlock CGPJ through PSOE and PP. However, Sáez’s retirement is an individual decision that challenges everyone in some way. Most members, including those of his group, learned of his resignation from the press and admitted they saw immediately that they were back in the spotlight.
“Neither Lesmes nor Concha [en referencia a Sáez] You will teach me lessons in dignity,” the vocal Cuesta exclaimed furiously during last Thursday’s meeting of the standing commission, hours after Sáez’s resignation was announced, according to sources at the body. A message he insisted on the whastapp sent to the rest of the progressive members after that meeting: “I am not willing to receive classes if their non-renewal makes me feel as attached to this institution as those who already do have resigned. “
But while the Lesmes march did not open the debate about collective resignation within the body, for many it was the beginning of the process of disintegration. The appointment to replace the senior adviser, the progressive Rafael Mozo, was agreed as a last-minute decision, on the assumption that the talks begun by the Socialists and Popularists after Lesmes’ resignation would bear fruit. But this umpteenth failure of the negotiations has extended the presidency of Mozo, who, according to members of both sectors, feels “comfortable” in the position but does not have the authority that Lesmes had. Not among members of his faction, nor among the Conservatives, who are waiting for Mozo to retire in July at 72 and be replaced by a Conservative member, basically the next oldest, Vicente Guilarte.
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