In barely a week, the progressive sector of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has gone from considering a resignation en bloc to trying to force the PSOE and the PP to renew the body to remain even more in a minority compared to the conservative bloc. The resignation of the vocal Concepción Sáez, proposed in its day by Izquierda Unida, has been accepted this Friday by the interim president Rafael Mozo, a day after the plenary session considered his request to leave the Council among reproaches.
Sáez, who justified his departure due to the wear and tear of the interim period of more than four years that the organ has lived, resigns in the midst of an increasingly rarefied environment, with no hope of a short-term renewal and with a galloping “degradation” in damage to the image of the judiciary.
With his abandonment, the progressive sector now has six members for ten of the conservatives and the one appointed at the initiative of the PNV, Enrique Lucas. Added to this panorama is the forced retirement of President Mozo, also a progressive, in three months when he turns 72. Previously, another counselor, the conservative Rafael Fernández Valverde, retired, the progressive Victoria Cinto died and President Carlos Lesmes resigned.
Mozo must now send Sáez’s resignation to the Ministry of Justice so that a royal decree can be drawn up, which must be signed by the King and countersigned by Minister Pilar Llop, for its eventual publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE). As they have specified, until then his resignation will not be effective.
The decision takes place after Sáez’s request remained unresolved yesterday, despite the fact that on the agenda of the ordinary plenary session held the “dating of account” of the individual resignation presented by the member and the “analysis of the current situation» of the CGPJ after the initiative launched by the vocal Álvaro Cuesta to promote an en bloc resignation of the progressive group with which to force the renewal of the Council.
The future of Cuesta
In the letter sent to Mozo on March 13, which was released last week, Sáez pointed to the “unsustainable” situation of the Council, both due to the interim period that it has suffered since December 4, 2018 and due to internal tensions. There were nuances in the opinions expressed yesterday, since while some directly criticized his resignation, others disagreed but respected his freedom to take this step.
From the progressive bloc, some members took advantage of the plenary debate to express what they already said at the meeting last Tuesday (when the collective resignation was ruled out), that is, that they will not leave office.
The most notable counselor is Álvaro Cuesta, a former Socialist deputy, who failed in his attempt to paralyze the activity of the plenary session and who now, with the go-ahead for his partner Sáez to leave, leaves him in a delicate situation if he decides to remain on the Council with all their remuneration intact: about 125,000 euros gross per year.
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