The Constitutional Court has decided in plenary session this Tuesday to admit three appeals against many other laws promoted by the Government in the last year of the legislature. The first refers to the modification of the Penal Code that led to the disappearance of the crime of sedition and the reduction of the criminal figure of embezzlement. The challenge was presented by the parliamentary group of the PP against organic law 11/2022, of December 22, transposing European directives and other provisions for the adaptation of criminal legislation to the European Union, and reform of crimes against moral integrity, public disorder and dual-use weapons smuggling. The admission implies that the court will decide by sentence on the constitutionality or not of said penal reform.
The PP questioned from the beginning the way to process this law. The parliamentary group even asked the Constitutional Court to adopt a controversial precautionary measure, consisting of preventing the debate of two amendments presented by the PSOE and Podemos with which they sought to facilitate the renewal of the Constitutional Court, because they had nothing to do with the initiative. The PP also opposed the content of said penal reform because it understood that it represented a risk for the defense of the unity of Spain. “The laws of Spain cannot be drafted at the ERC headquarters for the political convenience of Pedro Sánchez. Neither the Constitution nor the rule of law can surrender to the needs of any political leader, and even less to those who rose up against our nation,” said the popular spokesperson, Cuca Gamarra. “In no European country would the crime of sedition be touched by the seditious,” he added.
The guarantee body granted the precautionary measure after several days of strong tensions within the Constitutional Court itself. When the conflict arose, last December, the Constitutional Court had already had its term ended for six months with the composition it had then. This composition assumed the existence of a conservative majority. After a few weeks, when the court was renewed in January, it became progressive in nature.
The PP argued in its appeal that the law could be unconstitutional due to defects in its approval procedure, a matter that the court will now have to return to, four months after having issued the aforementioned precautionary measure, which was opposed by the progressive sector, then minority. The substantive issue ―the elimination of the crime of sedition and the modification of the figure of embezzlement, together with a new type of public disorder― was also challenged by the PP, which estimates that these changes violate five constitutional precepts, among them the articles 9 ―interdiction of the arbitrariness of public powers―, 14 ―equality of Spaniards before the law―, 24 ―effective protection of the courts―, 62 ―attribution to the King of the referendum call― and 117, related to the independence of judges and courts, who are responsible for interpreting and applying the law.
In parallel, the Constitutional Court has admitted Vox’s unconstitutionality appeal against the trans law. This challenge has been promoted by more than 50 deputies of the parliamentary group of this party in Congress against various precepts of Law 4/2023, of February 28, for the real and effective equality of trans people and for the guarantee of rights. rights of LGTBI people. The appellants maintain that the norm could violate at least nine precepts of the Constitution, among them the one that guarantees the right to honor, personal and family privacy and one’s own image, the one related to respect for ideological freedom and the one that establishes that The public powers guarantee the right of parents so that their children receive the religious and moral formation that is in accordance with their own convictions.
On the other hand, the court has also admitted for processing and will resolve by ruling the unconstitutionality appeals filed by the Madrid Assembly and by the Governing Council of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia against the tax on large fortunes. These two challenges are directed against article 3 of Law 38/2022, of December 27, for the establishment of temporary energy taxes and credit institutions and financial credit establishments and by which the temporary solidarity tax of large fortunes, and certain tax regulations are modified. In total, five unconstitutionality appeals against the aforementioned tax have already been admitted for processing. In addition to these two, the appeals presented by the autonomous governments of Andalusia, the Community of Madrid (Governing Council) and Galicia are being processed.
What affects the most is what happens closer. To not miss anything, subscribe.
subscribe
#Constitutional #Court #decide #sentence #suppression #sedition #violated #Magna #Carta