Brussels urges Spain to resolve the renewal of the Judiciary before July

The European Commission wants Spain to once and for all resolve the dispute over the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), pending since December 2018, and hopes that the country can show "results" in the matter before it assumes the presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1, community sources said this Monday, after the meeting in Brussels of the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, with several European commissioners.

Although no specific "deadlines" have been imposed in Bolaños's meetings with the European officials, the European Executive considers it "desirable" that the matter be resolved in the coming months, say community sources.

With a very specific date in mind: "We would greatly appreciate it being arranged before the Spanish presidency" of the EU and the Commission is "pushing" for it, the sources emphasize.

Around those same dates, they recall, the new report on the rule of law should be published, which, in July of last year, gave Spain a strong slap on the wrist on the matter.

Since then, the position of Brussels has not changed, the spokesman for the Commission for Justice, Cristian Wigand, also recalled on Monday.

“Our position is well known: it is important to proceed with the renewal of the CGPJ as a priority and, afterwards,

This has been one of the main issues, together with the Spanish presidency of the EU, that Bolaños discussed this Monday with the vice-president of the Commission, Věra Jourová, and with the Justice Commissioner, Didier Reynders, the latter highly questioned by the Spanish government, which sees it as "partial" and aligned with the theses of the PP that continues to block the renewal of the body of judges for four years now.

The Spanish Government had announced that Bolaños was traveling to Brussels with the intention of explaining the agreement that had been reached in October with the PP to renew the CGPJ and that was frustrated at the last moment due to the refusal of the popular leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to ratify it.

In his appointments at the Commission, Bolaños "has explained the agreement reached with the main opposition party" for the renewal of the GCPJ "following the recommendations of the Commission itself," says a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency, since that Bolaños has not made statements in Brussels.

According to official information,

According to the Commission spokesman, despite the constant setbacks, the European Executive will continue to encourage dialogue to find a solution that, yes, must come from Spain, not from Brussels.

"We are always optimistic and we are open to dialogue, our doors are open," Wigand said in this regard.

"It is important to continue with the discussions, our position is clear and we remain available to support a fluid dialogue, but the solution must be found in Spain", he stressed.

It is the second meeting that Bolaños has held with Reynders and Jurová since last summer, when the Brussels report exacerbated the crisis of the renewal of the CGPJ that has been dragging on for more than four years.

The Commissioner for Justice made a visit to Spain in autumn to meet with all the actors that started off on the wrong foot after learning that he had held a meeting shortly before in Strasbourg with the main negotiator and strategist of the PP in the matter, the MEP Esteban González Pons .

The visit ended with no visible progress.

Shortly after, in November, the unexpected slam of the PP to the agreement negotiated with the Government of Pedro Sánchez was known.

In January, five conservative members —of the 18 that make up the CGPJ— sent a letter to the European Commission in which they strongly attacked the Government,