He insists that the CGPJ must name its two candidates for the TC although he warns that it may not be on Thursday
MADRID, 5 (EUROPE PRESS)
The president of the Supreme Court (TS) and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Carlos Lesmes, has denied this Monday that he has made maneuvers to reach the Constitutional Court (TC) and has ruled himself out to be a candidate for the guarantee body in ” immediate future.”
“As president of the CGPJ, at this juncture it would seem indecent for me to take advantage of the position to obtain that advantage. Whoever is saying something else is lying with interest. I have no intention of going to the TC in the current circumstances. And in the immediate future Of course, neither. And in three years, five, six, I don’t know,” he said in statements to the press after the inauguration of the new State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, in the Supreme Court. .
Lesmes explained that the Plenary Session of the Council was convened for the 8th “so that it was within the legal period set by the law that returns to the CGPJ the powers for the appointment of the magistrates of the Constitutional Court.”
“The appointment must be made on the 8th, if possible, and if not the following days”, he added, although he acknowledged that “it is difficult to find wills directed towards the same person”. “That is the difficulty of these appointments”, she has influenced, but has assured that “the agreement will be reached”.
Asked what he thinks of the Government saying in private that if he does not support the appointments, they will not encourage him to get a place in the Constitutional Court, Lesmes has been blunt: “I don’t know if someone from the Government has said that. If someone from the Government He has said that, he has lied. In the Government they know perfectly well that I do not want to be a candidate for the TC. They know it perfectly because I have made it clear to them”.
When asked who may be behind these rumours, Lesmes has assured that they may be “people” who want to mediate him to “avoid appointments being made”. Asked if he would be the PP, he has indicated that he cannot say who it may be, but he has specified that he believes that it is done with the intention that he “wobble”. “I’m not going to falter on this,” he has told him.
He has also denied alleged pressure from TS magistrates to block the partial renewal of the TC, assuring that there are “several” possible candidates from the Supreme Court to the Constitutional Court. “Several Supreme Court magistrates have approached me applying for those positions. I have addressed others. Only one told me that he was not interested. The rest have told me that they are interested. There are plenty of magistrates who want to go to the TC,” has pointed out.
OPPOSES THE CGPJ DECLARING IN REBELLION
To those who maintain that “appointments must be boycotted”, Lesmes has recalled the “institutionality” of the Council and has insisted that if a law has been approved, it must be complied with, regardless of whether or not the circumstances in which that was approved. “It is a law that restores the jurisdiction of the CGPJ, a jurisdiction that is in the Constitution itself,” he stressed.
For this reason, he has been firm in the face of any boycott attempt: “I am opposed to this institution declaring itself in rebellion.” “I have supported it throughout my life and I support it now. It is our duty: compliance with the law and the Constitution. And, therefore, our obligation will be to try to reach an agreement,” he said.
“DESOLATING” SITUATION IN THE SUPREME
On the sidelines, asked about a possible renewal of the CGPJ this year, Lesmes has assured that he has “no hope” and that the situation seems “unfortunate”. “The opening speech will be very focused on this fact”, he has anticipated in view of the act that will be held this Wednesday.
Thus, the president of the Council has explained that the circumstances that are taking place in the Supreme Court are “devastating”. “Within not long there will be Chambers that will not be able to set up their sections regularly,” he said.
In addition, he has warned that “within a few months” the Central Military Court “will not be able to act because it will be without all its members because they have not been able to be replaced.”
For Lesmes, “the situation of Spanish justice is bleak and has to do with the non-renewal of the Council.” In his opinion, those responsible are those in charge of said renewal, that is, the Congress and the Senate and, therefore, the parliamentary groups represented there that have the capacity to do so.
In line, he has also pointed to the Government, for the reform he made a year ago to prevent the acting CGPJ from agreeing on appointments. “On the one hand the Council is not renewed and on the other hand it is not allowed to act”, he stressed. “An unsustainable and unacceptable situation,” he added.
Thus, Lesmes has assured that “there is disaffection” for what has been done with said reform. “It seems completely unacceptable to me that the CGPJ recovers the powers to make appointments from the TC and not from the Supreme Court, when the situation of the Supreme Court is much worse,” he indicated, later recalling that “multiple warnings” have been made from the Supreme Court to that “this situation ends”.
