Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Popular Party opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo met in Madrid last Friday, for the first time in the current legislature, and agreed on mediation and monitoring by the European Commission on the extension of the General Council for the Judiciary (CGPJ), whose mandate ended five years ago. This agreement was met with division within the CGPJ, with some judges finding it reasonable and others believing it would not resolve the situation.
At the end of the meeting, Feijóo said that the PP has “total distrust” of the PSOE government, which has signed several agreements with independents over the past five years, including an amnesty agreement with those convicted by the courts and who will benefit from the law, implementation This is, in the opinion of the people, the rule of law and the legitimacy of the judiciary.
The PP leader also accused the Socialists of appointing judges to the Constitutional Court who had recently held political positions in Sánchez’s governments, and of facilitating investigative committees in parliament that question judicial decisions and appoint magistrates to hearings can subject. It should be remembered that agreements with independents and appointments to judicial bodies have been the arguments used by the PP to block the renewal of the General Council for the Judiciary, whose term of office expired five years ago.
According to Feijóo and the government’s spokesperson, Minister Pilar Alegría, the negotiations that Brussels will supervise foresee this Friday the renewal of the elements of the CGPJ and the drafting and adoption of a new law that will change the way its members are elected . members, to increase independence from political power.
The PP leader also added that supervision from Brussels, as proposed by his party, is the way to guarantee “all guarantees of independence” in this process and for the CGPJ itself. Pilar Alegría said that the government and the PSOE welcome all formulas to “restore constitutional normality” in Spain and that the PP opens the possibility of renewing the CGPJ “after five years of constitutional non-compliance” by the main opposition party.
According to Feijóo, the European Commission has already been approached about this possibility of mediating in the negotiations between the PP and the government, after responding positively. Brussels has repeatedly asked Spain to urgently renew the CGPJ, in reports on the rule of law.
This understanding surprised the governing body of the judges, with some considering the European Commission’s mediation as an “intelligent solution” to the problem, while others believed that it will not solve the situation, according to CGPJ sources interviewed by Europa Press.
Sánchez and Feijóo also agreed on an amendment to the constitution, in the article labeling people with disabilities as ‘impaired’, and also set rules for the legislative process to prevent other parties from abusing a constitutional revision to change other laws. articles or force a referendum on Spanish fundamental law.
with Lusa
Source: DN
