The judicial blockade is an evil without a solution

The general election arrives on the 23rd With an unprecedented judicial blockade and justice, at least with strikes for months By officials and lawyers from the administration of justice to the threat of the judicial profession. The start of the electoral campaign buried this conflict, which is expected to re-emerge again after the summer.

The warnings from Europe were insignificant, the resignation of the Chief Justice, Carlos Lesmes, in the face of the state of siege, the insistent demand of the members of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to renew their positions after five years in office or the statements of the judicial associations.

PSOE insists on the existing model of CGPJ, while PP adheres to its modification

During these years, the PSOE and PP could not come to an agreement, judging by the electoral calculations. The People’s Party resorted to justice to wear down the government of Pedro Sánchez. First, Pablo Casado and then Alberto Núñez Viejo refused to sign an agreement to renew the 20 members of the judiciary, despite it being a constitutional mandate, all due to the internal argument that doing so would create fertile ground for Vox given the wear and tear of the agreement with the “sanchismo”.

Already before the municipal and regional elections on May 28, it was taken for granted within the CGPJ that negotiations would not resume. There was little hope of this happening before the general election and after the election progress was announced, any option was dashed.

For a long time, within the two parties, any option to open up the judges’ apparatus was considered dead. The leader of the People’s Party has clung to his desire to change the law so that the 12 members who come from the judicial profession are chosen by judges and not by Parliament, despite the fact that European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, has warned on several occasions that the body must first be renewed and then reform its appointment system. What is clear, according to the council’s sources, is that “justice does not vote,” which is why the blockade continues.

Nothing about fairness problems came out on the campaign trail, Behind the effects that act Yes, just yes With more than a thousand reductions in sentences for sexual assault perpetrators and rapists due to amending the scopes of sentences in criminal types. In addition, during these days, the progressive Rafael Muzo was replaced as president of the CGPJ, due to his retirement, by the conservative member Vicente Guilarte.

After reading the electoral programmes, there is no indication that the situation will improve once a new government is formed. The two main parties, PSOE and PP, remain firm in their ideas. The Socialists defend the current model, because it is the most democratic and approved by the Constitutional Court (TC) and enshrined in the State Charter: “We will continue to demand the immediate renewal of the CGPJ with the current system of dual legitimacy in its election”.

The administrative body of judges has expired for 1,721 days

The People’s Party continues to accuse the government of “political interference”He insists in his program that the way to restore the prestige of justice “after the attacks it was subjected to during the last legislative session” is to amend the system for electing members of the Council so that judges and justices of the peace are the ones who choose 12 members of judicial origin. And they say, “We will cancel the reform that today prevents its normal functioning.” According to sources from the Supreme Court, this argument, defended by the Union of Conservative Judges, harms the work of the judiciary by making Europe believe that there is no judicial independence in Spain, at a delicate moment in which European courts have to decide how the Supreme Court should act with leaders practical .

If PP rules after 23-J, You will need Vox support to enforce the law, which also advocates amending the electoral system to avoid “interference by politicized parties or associations”, in addition to betting on giving the authority greater autonomy in the budget. Even if they agree and the reform proceeds, they calculate from the council that the renewal will not be a year earlier, between the time of changing the law and the introduction of the new system, for a body that has been in power since December 2018.

in the opposite case, In order for Sanchez to return power, he will meet with a government partner, Sumar, which commits to the fix so that members automatically stop at the expiration of their membership term. Despite their adherence to the current model, the party of Yolanda Diaz wants to amend the criteria for the appointment of members of the judicial shift by the two chambers “to fully respect the will of the guarantors or associations proposed, at least with respect to ten of them (half of the twenty members of the body), with mechanisms that guarantee the relative presence of all sensitivities”.

The Commission does not expect that there will be a short-term solution that will lead to the continuation of the blockade while the Council is prevented from making appointments to the Supreme Court, which considers that its ability to issue judgments is further diminished.

The position of the two parties

PSOE. bet on maintaining the current model for electing members of the CGPJ; He encouraged zero paper in the courts, tried to reform the Criminal Procedure Code and expand the scope of the fight against corruption.

s. He intends to reform the law to select member judges. Changing the system for appointing members of the Supreme Council, restoring the original crime of embezzlement and sedition, and limiting the use of royal decrees.

Fox. He also advocates for change to the CGPJ election system; Restoration of sedition, elimination of TC for inclusion in the Supreme Court, repeal of the Violence Against Women Act and special prosecutors.

summer requests that the existing electoral system be preserved, but with some modifications; The abolition of the military judiciary, more parity in the Constitutional Court, and the establishment of a public prosecutor’s office specialized in crimes against workers’ rights.

ERC. He advocates the promotion of an amnesty law to “end the judicial oppression of independence”, the decriminalization of insults to the crown and the “democratization of the judicial system of the Spanish state”.

together He demands the transfer of legal fees to Catalonia and the complete transfer of staff and means of administering justice. In addition, she is bound by the obligation of judges to know Catalan.