No European norm imposes the election system required by the PP to renew the Judicial Branch. Mariano Rajoy's Government reformed the law in 2013 without addressing the Council of Europe's recommendation for judges to directly elect the 12 judges.
At least 43 judges – who received support from their colleagues or were proposed by one of the four judicial associations – have been waiting for five years for the Congress and the Senate to elect the new Council. The conservative party has the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, as an ally of its proposal.