The Council is holding a plenary session this Thursday to set the voting rules, with conservative members willing to ignore the law and with no candidates at the table
In the midst of the political dispute over the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary, another relevant element has fueled tensions not only between the PSOE and the PP, but also within the governing body of the judges. This is the fulfillment of the quota of the Council to appoint two magistrates to the Constitutional Court, also in the process of partial renewal.
The reform promoted by the PSOE to return to the Council the power to appoint these magistrates despite being in office and which requires a three-fifths majority has caused an earthquake with unforeseeable consequences. Not only because the competition has not been extended to the rest of the vacant positions in the high judiciary due to this law, but because the rule imposes a period of three months from its approval -on June 12, although it came into force a day later- to be fulfilled.
And it is this time limit that has caused a revolt in the conservative bloc of the CGPJ –majority despite some ‘leakage’ of related members–, which has seriously jeopardized President Lesmes’s plan to execute the rule despite not being either according to the three-month deadline, which ends on Monday.
Aware of the times, Lesmes convened an extraordinary plenary session for this judge in July with a single point: debate and vote on the candidates to occupy these two seats in the Constitutional Court.
internal maneuvers
The president wished them happy with the search for the greatest possible consensus among the members, but his strategy was blown up after the movements of the conservative sector to ignore the term of the socialist reform and mark the designs of the debate thanks to his majority in the full.
This circumstance led Lesmes last Monday to modulate his message, to the point that he denounced maneuvers in the Council to “wobble” the demands of law enforcement. So, the president opened the door to extend the debate beyond this Thursday; he even mentioned next Monday. The eight members of the conservative sector, reinforced by their veto power, have decided to sit down to negotiate but with a red line: the times are set by the plenary session.
Given this movement, Lesmes himself already assumes that the legal limit will be exceeded to appoint the two magistrates to the Constitutional Court and is preparing for the foreseeable attack of the Government for skipping the norm.
In the same way, another added problem has arisen in recent days: the lack of candidates who want to occupy those two positions in the court of guarantees. There is the paradox that the rejection comes mainly from the Supreme Court. The magistrates who have been touched do not want to be part of this political-judicial mess. In addition, the list of candidates is shortened due to vacant places in some chambers due to the impossibility of appointing substitutes by the Council. And, as is evident, they do not want to do more harm by proposing members of these rooms.
Thus, in the plenary session this Thursday, no major developments are expected regarding possible nominees, but rather the debate will focus on the rules of procedure. That yes, it will be possible to see how the balances are with an eye on future plenary sessions next week, affirm sources from the Council.
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