The Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova, stated this Tuesday that the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) must be made up "of a part of judges who are elected by the judges, and those They should be the majority.
This was underlined during his speech at an informative meeting organized in Madrid by Nueva Economía Fórum, during which he answered the question of whether Spain could be sanctioned if the blockade of the governing body of the judges is maintained, which it had to have been renewed in December 2018. The PP promised this Monday to present a proposal to the Government next month to renew the Judiciary, including a series of reforms for the "regeneration" of justice.
The Government sees in this movement a new attempt to delay a process.
Jourova has applauded that political efforts are being made, but she has urged that a solution be found.
"I would like to see results now," she said.
Jourova has not commented on a possible sanction and has limited herself to explaining that, within the European Union, there are 11 countries that have bodies similar to the CGPJ, which, "according to the regulations", have to be composed "of a part of judges who are elected by the judges, and those should be the majority”, while the rest of the members “should be appointed by Parliament, by political parties”.
The vice-president of the Commission has not specifically ruled on the Spanish model, where, of the 20 members of the Council, 12 come from a list of names proposed by the judges, although it is then the Courts that, from that list, select the 12 chosen.
The other eight members of the CGPJ are jurists proposed directly by the parliamentary groups.
To be elected, the members of both lists must collect,
Jourova's words indicate that, in principle, the vice-president of the Commission considers that the system for electing members in Spain does not fit in with European preferences, since the 12 member judges are not directly elected by the judges (although they are indirectly ).
However, in an interview with EL PAÍS published this Monday, Jourova had stated: "According to the recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, of course, the ideal situation is that one more than half of the members of the councils is voted or selected by their peers, by the judges”.
That nuance, "voted or selected", could assimilate the Spanish model to the European recommendations.
In that same interview,
In her speech this Tuesday, Jourova has unequivocally censured the legal reform proposal that the Government put forward in 2020 to allow the Judiciary to be renewed with an absolute majority, which would allow the current blockade to be undone without the need for the votes of the PP .
But the Executive withdrew that proposal after receiving harsh criticism from Brussels, a circumstance that the vice president of the Commission has recalled.
"Already in 2020 we asked that they withdraw the reform and that they seek a political solution", she said, before regretting that, since then, no progress has been made in the renewal of the body.
The commissioner has shown her concern about a possible "politicization" of the CGPJ.
“We do not want to see these councils being politicized”, she has affirmed, although she has assured that she “understands” what “the reality of Spain” is.