The Socialist Party Y United We Can have introduced amendments to modify the election process for the two candidates for the constitutional Court (TC) that is the responsibility of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). Now, after months of unjustified delays, the sector conservative of the CGPJ he wants to immediately convene a plenary session to appoint the two magistrates for the TC and thus avoid the new reform.
The partners of Government They propose going from a three-fifths majority to a simple one so that the CGPJ appoints its two candidates to the TC and that, in the event that the governing body of the judges continues to fail to comply, they can demand even criminal responsibilities from their members. Currently, the candidates for the TC need 11 votes. The conservative sector of the Council has 10 members and the progressive, eight.
According to the sources consulted by this newspaper, the conservative block of the CGPJ believes that it is a “devastating interference”a “blackmail” and even a threat that aims to admit the candidate of the progressive sector: the magistrate of the supreme court (TS) Jose Manuel Bandres.
From the conservative wing, the reform draws attention, whose objective is for the 18 members to propose and vote only one of the candidates instead of two, which would guarantee, initially, that the two most voted are the candidates chosen by each block, in the case of the progressives: Bandrés.
The conservatives changed the rules in the middle of the game, to veto Bandrés
The negotiations within the CGPJ reached a dead end last week after the progressive members ratified Bandrés’ candidacy and offered to the conservatives to also accept without objection the candidate they selected. But the conservatives rejected this system, insisting that both applicants must be elected together, thus changing the rules of the game that occurred last September, when negotiations began to reach a consensus for the two candidates for the TC.
The underlying problem is that the conservative members do not accept Bandrés, although formally they have not blamed him. His delaying strategy to designate his candidate has already accumulated three months. According to the sources consulted, the conservative bloc manages six names: Pablo Llarena, Julián Sánchez Melgar and Vicente Magro, of the Criminal Chamber of the TS; Y César Tolosa, Inés Huerta and Diego Córdoba, of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber.
However, the sources assure that in reality the best positioned to obtain the endorsement of the CGPJ as a whole are Tolosa and Pablo Lucas, the TS magistrate in charge of controlling the activity of the CNI and who was on the first list of nine candidates released. by progressive members.
Conservative members call for an extraordinary plenary session
The conservative block of the CGPJ has met this same Friday and nine of its ten members have agreed to request the interim president of the Council, Rafael Mozo, to summon a extraordinary plenary session to vote for the two TC candidates before the aforementioned reform is approved.
From the progressive sector it is understood that “reasonable” right now would be to wait
However, from the progressive current they believe that the proposal of PSOE and UP is a legitimate way for the General cuts offer a solution to the current blockade. In his opinion, the “shameful” thing would be that “nobody did anything” to try to remove the obstacles that prevent the normal functioning of the institutions. sources consulted by Publicindicate that it is an anomaly that the Executive and Legislative Powers have to “activate” to alleviate a “rebellion” regarding the constitutional mandate.
In addition, from the progressive sector it is understood that “reasonable” Right now it would even be waiting for the aforementioned reform to become a reality to hold any vote in the CGPJ on the two candidates for the TC.
Currently, both sectors are waiting for Mozo, since he is the one who must call the extraordinary plenary session within a period of three days from Monday. This would mean bringing forward the schedule set because it was expected that in the Ordinary plenary session of December 22 the two candidates for the TC will be voted for the first time.
Some progressive members opt to vote blank in plenary session to wait for the new rules
Some progressive members opt with blank voting in that extraordinary plenary session to wait for the new regulations, which would also mean exceeding the ordinary plenary session, since Congress could approve the reform next week but the Senate would need until the end of the month.
For the progressive members, if the conservative bloc was in no “hurry” to comply with this constitutional obligation, now there is no reason to speed up, and even less so when representatives and senators are expected to change the voting rules.
