The plenary session of the Constitutional Court decided to postpone until next Monday the consideration of the request of the People’s Party to immediately stop the review of the reform, by which the government itself intends to block the renewal of the Court of Guarantee. In practice, this absence of a decision means that Congress will be able to vote this afternoon on the processing of this reform without obstacles.
Five of the eleven plenary magistrates argued that they could not make a decision today, and the president, Pedro González-Treviano, decided to postpone the hearing until Monday. The five progressive magistrates asked for the “necessary time” for a “full study” of the documents, given the “complexity” of the issue and the “relevance” of the decision. This, as they say in the letter, makes it impossible for them to participate in the debate.
The formation of Alberto Núñez Feijoo announced yesterday this appeal against the decision of the Justice Commission of the lower house to allow the processing of the changes with which the government intends to renew the Constitutional Court. The amendments propose to replace the majority system by bypassing the blockade of several conservative members of the CGPJ, and allow the governing body of judges to appoint two magistrates corresponding to them.
A resource that the PSOE and United We Can were against. Two parliamentary groups in the lower house this morning appealed to the Constitutional Court to reject the impeachment measure and, in addition, they have been detained as persons presenting charges in the impeachment proceedings. Ione Bellara’s party also demanded that the two magistrates be released from the proceedings.
Constitutional hearings on the preemptive measure began more than two hours behind schedule to analyze and reject United We Can’s challenges.
The constitution will be updated
At the bottom of the case, apart from the specific legal debate that the magistrates had this Thursday, are the shock wave consequences of the People’s Party blockade to renew the CGPJ, which reaches the Constitutional Court. The PP-appointed conservative members of this body, whose term expired four years ago, refused to vote for candidates until Wednesday yesterday, meaning there are currently four constitutional magistrates without renewal.
Two of them correspond to the government and two to the CGPJ, but it seems clear that the constitution does not plan to give openings to two candidates for the executive branch, unless candidates for the governing body of judges are also prepared, at least for now.
The situation in the Judicial Council is far from collapsing. A recent legislative reform forced members to agree on the appointment of their two nominees in September, but it did not happen until several months later. This did not happen, as several members of the conservative sector refused to put their candidates on the table and vote until this Wednesday.
The appearance of this last modification of the necessary majority led them to demand, now urgently, a plenary vote for their two candidates: Cesar Tolo and Pablo Lucas Murillo. A proposal that practically neutralizes and vetoes the proposal of the progressive sector, Magistrate José Manuel Bandres. Motion to fail and which already has a hearing date: Tuesday, December 20.
Blocked progressive majority
The Council has expired for four years, the renewal of which is blocked by the PP, thus blocking the renewal of the main part of the Constitutional Court. It’s important because these four posts, which are up for renewal, are what will guarantee a progressive majority in the coming years after a decade of Conservative majorities.
The government has already appointed its own ex-minister Juan Carlos Campo and Professor Laura Dies, two with progressive profiles, while the council does not stand for its own advancement, but traditionally tends to assign a magistrate to each sector of the plenary session.
Replacing the two conservatives appointed by Mariano Rajoy’s absolute majority with two progressives would change this proportion with several key decisions: the PP’s appeal against the abortion law and the appeal against more pressing regulations such as euthanasia, the Selaa law on education and many others. others.
Source: El Diario
