It will not be easy and there are strong obstacles to the Government and the PP finally closing an agreement to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), after five and a half years of blockade, but the popular ones seem to approach this negotiation in a position more flexible than a few weeks ago. This Tuesday, in an almost monographic press conference on the negotiations to renew the Council, the PP spokesperson, Borja Sémper, avoided defining as a red line an immediate legal reform of the method of electing the members of the CGPJ to agree on the renewal. The popular ones have made their speech more flexible and defend that their proposal is to “advance in parallel in widening the spaces of independence of the CGPJ” instead of the formula they used before, when they spoke exhaustively that they wanted “for the judges to elect the judges.” ”, something that they demanded be reflected in a reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary “immediately” to the agreement for renewal.
Asked several times whether the PP continued to demand a reform of the method of electing CGPJ members automatically upon renewal, the PP spokesperson has used more generic formulas, avoiding defining that requirement as a red line. “We are willing to continue negotiating with the PSOE in a European context sponsored by the EU, and this negotiation will come to a successful conclusion if we have some guarantee that progress is also made in parallel in expanding the spaces of independence of the governing body of the judges” . That is to say, Sémper now talks about having “guarantees” that progress is being made “in parallel” in greater independence of the CGPJ, but he does not say that these guarantees have to be a legal reform agreed upon immediately between PP and PSOE, as Alberto previously claimed. Núñez Feijóo.
At another time, the PP spokesperson insisted that the popular party is open to “renewing the CGPJ with the current law”, but “as long as progress is made in parallel on measures aimed at guaranteeing independence in the election of members of the governing body of the judges.” These “measures” are more generic than a reform of the election system by law, which Sémper has not demanded as prior or simultaneous to the renewal of the CGPJ.
Sources from the PP leadership explain that the party will demand a “commitment” to advance the change in the election system, although they avoid specifying how that commitment would seem sufficient to them. These sources do point to European supervision as key to this commitment. Génova also does not specify whether the change to the CGPJ election system should be immediately upon renewal or could be addressed at a later time.
Now, the same sources from the popular leadership warn that “it has to be a good agreement or there will be no agreement”, that is, that the PP will not completely give up its claims either. Feijóo has pressure from the hard wing of the right, which is against any pact with the Government of Pedro Sánchez, so he needs to be able to sell his people an agreement beneficial to his interests. At the press conference this Tuesday, the PP spokesperson today denied that there are internal discrepancies in the party about the convenience of reaching an agreement, although sources from the PP in Madrid have assured EL PAÍS that it would be “a mistake” to agree. with the Government the CGPJ. “I don’t see sectors in the PP. There are people who think things… The PP’s position on this is univocal. The entire PP believes that we have to guarantee the independence of the governing body of the judges. There is no discrepancy,” Sémper defended.
Feijóo himself has been modulating his position on how to implement the reform of the method of electing CGPJ members that the PP demands. Last May, the leader of the PP revealed in an interview on Esradio what was the final point of friction in the negotiations, which were already very advanced, between the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, and the popular deputy secretary Esteban González Pons under the mediation of the then Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders. “What is being debated now is whether Europe accepts that the modification in the election system so that the majority of members are chosen by the judges themselves is made in accordance with an opinion prepared by the new CGPJ, that is, that it is not a prerequisite [a la renovación del actual Consejo]; or, on the contrary, that it be done before electing the CGPJ, which is our proposal because it gives us greater guarantee,” said Feijóo.
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Just a few months before, in February of this year, the leader of the PP insisted on asking for a legal reform to change the CGPJ election system. “There will be renewal and there will be law. There will be law and renewal. “If not, the negotiation would be lame,” he stated, to warn that the Government has already “deceived them once” and they will not “deceive them the second time.” A year earlier, Feijóo was even more demanding and demanded that the times be reversed: first the legal reform and, only then, the renewal. “I am in favor of an immediate reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary and based on that reform, immediately renew and update the General Council of the Judiciary,” he said in May 2023.
Now the PP shows a more flexible position, although Feijóo’s team is skeptical about the possibilities of an agreement because they believe that Pedro Sánchez will ultimately try to boycott it. The President of the Government has issued an ultimatum to the PP to reach an agreement in the month of June or else he has warned that he will reform the law to unblock the CGPJ. Génova claims to be waiting to know what the PSOE’s latest proposal will be and maintains that the PP will not leave the negotiating table at any time.
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