The president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Isabel Perelló, has accepted the proposal of the conservative block of the body to put the magistrate Dimitry Berberoff, judge of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber and vice-president of the conservative Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM), in charge of the vice-presidency of the Supreme Court. Sources from the CGPJ indicate that Perelló is communicating his decision this Wednesday morning to the progressive members, although warning them that Berberoff is considering whether to accept the proposal. To go ahead, Berberoff’s candidacy, advanced by the SER and confirmed by this newspaper, needs the support of 13 of the 21 members of the plenary (20 members plus the president), although councillors from both sectors consulted agree that the intention is for the future vice-president to be elected unanimously or with a comfortable majority.
The vice-president of the Supreme Court is elected by the plenary session, but the nomination of the president of the high court and the CGPJ is made by the president. His function is essentially to substitute the president in case of absence and to carry out the functions that she delegates to him, especially technical and organisational tasks of the court. After the election of Perelló, a progressive judge and member of the association Judges and Judges for Democracy (JJPD), the conservatives claim that the vice-presidency should be held by a judge from this sector and a member of the majority APM. Progressive councillors consulted admit this possibility, although Berberoff’s profile raises suspicions because the proposed candidate is vice-president of the conservative association. Progressive sources warn that, when they proposed judge Ana Ferrer as president, the argument of the other block to reject her was that she was a “prominent” member of JJPD. Perelló’s name emerged from the conservatives as a JJPD candidate, but with a lower profile, and the progressives accepted her. in extremis to avoid reaching the opening of the judicial year without having appointed a president.
The president has held contacts this Wednesday with the progressive members, to whom she has informed that she had spoken this morning with Berberoff to propose that he accept the position and that he had asked her for a few hours to think it over. The intention confirmed by several members was to hold the plenary session to elect the vice president next Thursday, September 19, but the law requires that the name of the candidate be made public seven days in advance, so if Perelló does not make a formal proposal in the next few hours, the session would have to be delayed. The majority opinion is that if the president proposes Berberoff, his candidacy will gather the necessary majority. However, some members advance that they will express to the president their reluctance to the vice president of the APM being chosen and will try to get her to look for another candidate.
Berberoff’s proposal was communicated by the conservatives in conversations held last Monday with the other group, in which they maintained that, after the election of a progressive president, they considered that the vice president, the general secretary and the spokesperson of the CGPJ should be conservatives. Sources from the body indicate that the progressives refused, so, if Berberoff’s proposal goes ahead, a tense negotiation is expected between both groups to appoint the other two positions. Progressive sources are in favour of keeping the current general secretary, Manuel Luna, for the moment. Regarding the spokesperson, a position that the previous CGPJ dispensed with, it is now intended to recover it, but both sectors claim it for themselves. “There are two groups with different sensitivities and the person chosen has to represent the president and the institution, not their group,” warns a member.
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