Reynders believes that the agreement of the Judiciary is “very close” and the PP denies it

The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, is waiting for a “political signal” from Madrid to continue the negotiation on the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) under his mediation, as requested by the popular parties and as the socialists agreed. The European official has assured a group of journalists in Brussels that an agreement is “very close”, but has made it clear that without “political will” from the two parties it will not be possible to achieve it. Sources from the PP have denied that the agreement with the socialists is close. According to these same sources, there has been “no progress” in the negotiation, which remains blocked at the same point, the discrepancy between the PSOE and the PP on whether to reform the method of electing members, which the popular demand to renew. the advice.

Reynders, who was willing to travel to Madrid for a new meeting on March 27 that was ultimately cancelled, will leave his position at the end of this month, but has indicated that the Commission “will remain available” afterwards if the parties require it. Of course, as long as, he has stressed, the PP and the PSOE take the first step. It would not hurt, he said, for the two parties to also “talk to each other” before appealing to Brussels again.

“In order to move forward, obviously, the two political parties have to agree. I have held meetings in Brussels, in Strasbourg, and I am still available to go to Madrid if necessary. But this requires political signals from both political parties. As soon as the signals arrive, we will resume a three-way discussion,” explained Reynders at the end of an event in the Belgian capital. The Justice Commissioner has stressed that, above all, PP and PSOE must talk to each other. “It would be useful for the two political formations to talk to each other. I hope that happens in Madrid,” he indicated.

The Belgian commissioner believes that we are “very, very close to an agreement” on the renewal of the CGPJ, but has also stressed that “it is a matter of political will to know when you want to do it.”

The General Council of the Judiciary, which is not a court, but the governing body of all judges in Spain, has had its mandate expired for more than five years due to the resistance of the PP to negotiate with the PSOE the renewal of its members, who are chosen by the Cortes. Reynders agreed at the end of January, at the request of the PP, to lead a “structured dialogue” to unblock this negotiation, and established a period of two months to achieve it. The date has passed and the agreement is still not in sight.

Although it was this formation that most insisted on a negotiation formula that involved Brussels, the PP has been lowering expectations of an agreement for weeks. “It is very difficult to reach an agreement for the CGPJ with someone who at the same time is humiliating, disavowing and forcing the Supreme Court to correct itself, breaking the separation of powers,” said deputy secretary of institutional action of the popular party, Esteban González Pons, interlocutor. of the PP in the meetings with Reynders, during the congress of the European People's Party (EPP) in Bucharest, at the beginning of March. A few days later, in the so far last three-party meeting, in Brussels on the 13th of that month, González Pons once again lowered expectations, lamenting that “positions remain frozen.”

The commissioner will take a leave of absence starting April 25 to focus on his campaign, as he aspires to lead the Council of Europe, a body outside the EU. Reynders shows his “availability” to continue the negotiations in this extra time, but warns that he cannot do anything if the PP and the PSOE do not require it. “Since 2018 we have been trying to renew the CGPJ. I have tried a lot, two years ago even with contacts in Madrid, but we have not succeeded. […] I remain available at all times and I have told both parties that way. The Commission, in any case, will remain available if the parties consider that they have to wait a while,” she noted, without revealing who could resume mediation in her place.

“Alternative formulas”

Reynders has been somewhat skeptical—although not closed—to exploring “alternative formulas” to the political route to renew the CGPJ, as proposed the day before by the interim president of the body, Vicente Guilarte. “I am always willing to receive proposals, but they have to be concrete proposals, to tell me how they plan to work, because I work based on existing texts,” explained the commissioner. “If we want to renew the CGPJ, we must go through the procedure provided for by Spanish legislation,” he said. That is, negotiation between parties. Reynders also recalled that, for two years, in the annual report on the rule of law, the Commission's recommendation is to “urgently renew the Council of the Judiciary and then undertake the reform [legal para cambiar el método de elección]”.

“I hope that we can find the political agreement to carry out these two operations to a successful conclusion. If there are other ideas, I am willing to receive them, but above all we must apply Spanish legislation,” he indicated.

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