The Congress will reject the proposal of the PP to change the system of election of the members of the Judiciary

The deputy spokesman of Citizens in Congress, Edmundo Bal, this Tuesday in the plenary. Carlos Luján (Europa Press)

The plenary session of Congress plans to reject next Thursday the taking into consideration of the proposal of the Popular Party to modify the system of election of the members of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). At the same time that the Senate attended the last face-to-face before the elections of 28-M between President Pedro Sánchez and the leader of the opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, a semi-empty hemicycle – with less than a hundred deputies present in a Chamber of 350 seats – has held the debate on one of the issues that has marked the legislature: the renewal of the governing body of the judges, which accumulates a delay of four and a half years due to the blockade of the PP.

The proposal of the popular seeks that the judges directly elect 12 members without the participation of the Courts. The current law, from 1985, gives the Chamber the power to appoint the 20 members of the CGPJ, eight jurists of recognized prestige and 12 judges. The groups of the Congress have been very hard against the PP and only Citizens has announced its support for the initiative, while Vox, which has advocated a change in the system, has not revealed the meaning of its vote.

"Never in democracy in Spain has attacked, interfered and delimited both the Judiciary and in this legislature," opened fire the popular deputy María Jesús Moro in the presentation of the initiative. The parliamentarian has indirectly accused the Executive of putting the laws "at the service of those who have been convicted by a final sentence" and stressed that "none of its actions can be trusted to be aimed at strengthening the independence of the Judiciary or the neutrality of the institutions." The spokeswoman has described the reform as an "unstoppable clamor" and a "demand" of the European institutions to "comply" with the parameters of quality of a rule of law. The system of election proposed by the proposed law establishes that the members of judicial origin "shall be elected by and among all judges and magistrates"; "The election shall be conducted by personal, equal, direct and secret vote" and "the ballot shall contain an open list of candidates and the judges shall mark a maximum of six names." A priori, these conditions benefit the majority judicial associations. Fundamentally, the conservative Professional Association of the Magistracy (almost 1,400 associates), the centrist Francisco de Vitoria (843) and the progressive Judges for Democracy (462).

"Do not bring us more proposals, comply with the Constitution and unblock the Council," PSOE deputy Francisco Aranda has requested between applause from his group. "All you want is to control justice. They are the geniuses of language not to tell the truth, "criticized the deputy, for whom the underlying problem is "his patrimonialist conception of justice, power and Spain." "Contrary to what happens with Vox, in your Spain we all fit, but it must be clear that it is yours, that things [only] happen when you govern," the socialist emphasized.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the PP, it does not strain", has responded from the rostrum of speakers the spokesman of EH Bildu, Jon Iñarritu, who has blamed the popular of "investing" the requests of the European Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders – who a week ago urged the renewal of the CGPJ before Spain assumes the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1 – and turn them into a "blackmail" and "a curtain of smoke." The nationalist deputy has been in favor of debating the election of the members of the CGPJ. "We are also willing to talk about what functions that Council should have in an exercise compared to other European states," he announced before asking the PSOE to "take the bull by the horns" and use the majority of investiture to modify the law and end the "prerogatives" of those who have branded as "vocal squatters".

"We are going to support the initiative of the PP," announced the deputy spokesman of Citizens, Edmundo Bal, who has been, however, "skeptical" that the conservatives will apply the rule if they come to power. "His impetus with reforms is exactly the same as his apathy in government. They will not undertake this reform as they do not want to undertake the electoral law so that Bildu does not rule in Spain, "he questioned the same day that seven convicted of blood crimes included in the electoral lists have announced that they will not take office after the elections of the 28th. For Bal, the proposal has positive aspects, such as reducing to 25 the guarantees necessary to be able to present to the CGPJ, although he has asked to include other issues, such as reinforcing the objectification of the merit and capacity system, that the president of the Supreme Court be chosen among career judges with some seniority or that the impossibility of revolving doors be reinforced with "more risky and courageous" solutions than those proposed by the PP.

The deputy of Vox Javier Ortega Smith has pulled the comparison between PP and PSOE. "He rides so much, he rides so much. Always on the back of the colonization of the judicial organs and political interference in the judiciary, "he criticized before defending the election between judges and magistrates with "personal, direct, equal and secret vote, reinforcing the seniority to access the squares of the Supreme and the superior courts of justice, restricting the access of those who came from public elected positions. "

"I am sorry to tell you that the Spaniards have already realized, the PP is the party of promises and unfulfilled proposals," Ortega Smith has charged. Minutes earlier, his party had requested to remove from the diary of sessions the words of the deputy of Junts Josep Pagès i Massó, who said: "The judicial dome is a crust of Francoism occupied by the right and the extreme right." "In no case, it is the pure truth," Pagès replied to the withdrawal request led by Vox spokesman Iván Espinosa de los Monteros.

"He has very thin skin," said Jaume Asens, president of the parliamentary group of Unidas Podemos, who has also alluded to the campaign. "Abascal called the mayor of Barcelona a dangerous psychopath. That is reprehensible, "defended the deputy of the commons. The spokesman has described the reform as "blackmail", "teasing" and act "of cynicism and hypocrisy" after four and a half years of expired mandate. "We have to agree to rescue the proposal to be able to renew the Government of the judges without the PP," Asens has requested the Chamber, insisting on the proposal to change the majority system formulated by his party, absolute and with 50% of the support of the groups.

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