This Wednesday, the Belgian Government presented the candidacy of the current Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, for the position of Secretary General of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg. A step that could end the PP's wishes for the veteran Belgian politician to become the mediator in the negotiations with the PSOE to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ): if his candidacy to lead the institution made up of 46 States of the continent comes forward, it is most likely that, at some point in the coming weeks or months, Brussels will be taken on leave, at least until the final vote, scheduled for June, takes place.
The European Commission has not yet ruled on the Spanish request that the negotiation to renew the governing body of the judges, whose mandate has expired for more than five years, be supervised by Brussels. The request, on which the start of the discussions depends, formally reached the European Executive on December 23, after the agreement reached by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and that of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to unblock the talks. At the proposal of the PP leader, Reynders' name was put on the table. For the popular ones, the Belgian liberal was the “appropriate” and “appropriate” person for that mediation role. And although the Government did not take a dim view of another possible candidate, such as Vice President Věra Jourová, responsible for Values and Transparency, it did not object to the Reynders option, despite being considered a figure very close to the PP and Cs.
The Commissioner of Justice has been demanding that Spain urgently renew the CGPJ for years and visited Spain at the end of 2022, in a frustrated attempt to unblock the negotiations. The fact that shortly before his trip he discreetly met with the then MEP and now Feijóo's right-hand man, Esteban González Pons, but with no one from the PSOE, caused discomfort in the socialist ranks, as did the letter to the Sánchez Government that Reynders sent last November expressing “serious concerns” about the “ongoing debates” about the “possible approval of an amnesty law”, before a text was even on the table.
In any case, due to the times and customs set by the Commission when one of its members opts for a position outside the European Executive, the Reynders option is now receding, regardless of whether or not Brussels ends up agreeing to mediate at some level in the dispute. , a decision that could also take weeks. A spokesperson already made it clear this Monday that Brussels will take its time, emphasizing that it is not part of its usual tasks but that the renewal of the CGPJ is above all the “responsibility” of Spain, although it has agreed to study the proposal.
The most immediate example of the Reynders case is that of the Competition Commissioner, the Danish Margrethe Vestager. After announcing at the end of June that the Danish Government had nominated her for the presidency of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Vestager took a leave of absence in September to focus on her campaign, in a race that she ended up losing to the Spanish Nadia Calviño, who assumed his new position on January 1.
The decision to take an unpaid break – or to leave the position permanently, as the vice-president for the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, also did in the summer to make the leap to Dutch national politics – is not necessarily mandatory. Of course, the European Commission's Code of Conduct, updated in 2018, provides that the decision is in the hands of the president—or president, Ursula von der Leyen, in this case—of the Commission, who “taking into account the particular circumstances of the case, must decide whether participation in said electoral campaign is compatible with the fulfillment of the duties of the candidate member.
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Those who decide to withdraw from the Commission, the regulations add, will be entitled to an unpaid leave of absence. This was the case with Vestager until his reinstatement at the end of December to his portfolio, which, precisely, Reynders assumed during the months in which he was absent. Community sources indicate that it is most likely that in the Belgian's case now, this procedure will also be followed and an at least temporary leave of absence will be opted for. But “whether he leaves or not, and when he will do so,” is something that Reynders himself will discuss with Von der Leyen “directly,” diplomatic sources add, who also warn that it is still too early for that talk, since his candidacy to Strasbourg is still in a “very preliminary stage.”
Examination of candidatures
The decision on his departure from Brussels will depend in principle on whether Reynders' candidacy manages to reach its final stages. The Council of Europe will begin examining all applications at the end of January and will begin interviews with applicants in March. The objective is to have a final list for the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the 46 member countries, at the beginning of May. The next secretary general will be elected from among the names on that list, during the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe scheduled for June 24 and 25. Although the dates are close to those of the European elections, from the 6th to the 9th of that month, they are two completely separate processes for different institutions. If Reynders appears on the final list of candidates, it is most likely that he will take a leave of absence from then on to focus on his career to direct the Strasbourg-based organization dedicated to “promoting democracy, human rights and the State.” of law in Europe and beyond. She is due to take office on October 1.
It is the second time that Reynders has applied for this position. The first was exactly five years ago, when she reached the final but lost to the Croatian Marija Pejčinović Burić, who won with 159 votes, compared to the 105 achieved by the former Belgian minister, who ended up becoming European commissioner. One of the keys is whether Burić decides to run again or not. Although the deadline for submitting candidatures officially ends this Wednesday, sources from the Council of Europe indicate that the final list of candidates will not be published immediately. According to the Belgian press, Reynders will have to fight at least one rival, the former Estonian Minister of Culture Indrek Saar. A candidate, according to the Belgian newspaper La Libre, with fewer possibilities due to his lower international projection than Reynders, for whom the real obstacle to obtaining the position would be a new candidacy by Burić.
For the Belgian politician, leading the Council of Europe has become practically his only option to maintain an international career and even in national politics. The former Foreign Minister, 65, had made no secret of his aspirations to renew his mandate within the EU, possibly in the Commission. But the surprise decision of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to appear as the head of the list for the elections to the European Parliament for the Reform Movement, made official last Sunday, ended the dreams of Reynders, a member of the same liberal party that aspired to that square. After learning that the MR did not foresee any European seat for him, the still Belgian commissioner informed the Government of Alexander de Croo on the same Sunday that he wanted to try again to aspire to the Council of Europe, a candidacy that the Belgian Government has now officially registered with the international organization this Wednesday. Thus, Charles Michel's gesture could have
an unexpected butterfly effect on Spanish politics.
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