The new substitute president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Vicente Guilarte, renewed this week the members of its different commissions. The maneuver raised blisters and five of the 16 members of the organ joined forces to send a message: from now on, the most important decisions adopted by the CGPJ may be null and void. Guilarte's mandate starts with a fight, and the electoral results predict that the fight will be long. Its members are the only ones with exclusive dedication and receive an annual salary that exceeds 125,000 euros.. Upon assuming the presidency, Guilarte has decided to replace four of its seven members: the conservatives Juan Manuel Fernández, Juan Martínez Moya and Nuria Abad, as well as the one closest to the PSOE, Álvaro Cuesta.
Together with the progressive Clara Martínez de Careaga, the response of those relieved came in the form of a private vote. Throughout six pages, they criticize that they had been summoned for the “examination of the situation of the General Council of the Judiciary”, but Guilarte, of a conservative nature, appeared with a reorganization proposal “in hand”.. According to the complaint, they were not even previously consulted about their “opinion or preferences”, which made “due collegiality, which is the essence of this constitutional body, inoperative.”.
The members also maintain that the transfer of members from the Disciplinary Commission to the Permanent one is “manifestly contrary to law”, to the point that it can affect the validity of “all agreements adopted in the future”.. “During the plenary session, there were members who, not having legal limitations to participate in other commissions, expressed their wish to be assigned to another of the commissions other than the one to which they had been assigned, without this matter being submitted to any debate, omitting all dialogue and imposing the proposal”. The plenary of the CGPJ will not meet again until next September, but Guilarte's first decision has already caused a schism. Faced with the usual division by blocks, the new president also finds himself with both progressives and conservatives among his detractors.
23-J and the notices from Brussels
Guilarte assumed the post on July 20.. Most of the polls then pointed to a comfortable victory for Alberto Núñez Feijóo and from the PP they promised to reform the election system of the CGPJ. This hypothetical political scenario opened the door to unblocking the body after almost five years in office, but the final results show a very different image: neither the PP can carry out its reform nor will the renewal of the CGPJ be possible without the two big parties reaching an agreement.
The appointment of the 20 members of the CGPJ will continue to require a majority of three fifths of Congress and the Senate until further notice. If Pedro Sánchez achieves sufficient support for a new investiture, Feijóo would once again have the key to unlock the CGPJ, but during all these years of legislature he has not taken that step. If, on the contrary, there is an electoral repetition, it would be necessary to wait at least until December.
The blockade of the CGPJ is extended again and the red lines marked by Brussels have been overcome a long time ago. The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, has made it clear in his recent visits to Spain that they have pressure tools such as blocking funds, opening infringement proceedings and even going to the Court of Justice of the EU.
“We recommend proceeding with the renewal of the CGPJ. It is a priority,” he warned last May during an event organized by the World Association of Jurists in Madrid. “It will be positive to implement the recommendations before the start of the Spanish EU presidency in July”. Once again, Spain has already exceeded the deadline set by Brussels, and nothing indicates that the renewal of the CGPJ will take place in the short or medium term.