Feijóo demands to negotiate the CGPJ and the legal reform at the same time: "As long as everything is not closed, we will not be able to agree on anything"

"If we all play fair, we can give good news to Spain, which is so in need at this time to guarantee the rule of law," he adds.

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, demanded this Thursday that they must negotiate "simultaneously" the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the text of a legal reform to change the system of election of the governing body of the judges. In fact, he has warned that "until everything is closed," they will not "be able to agree on anything."

"We do not want to deceive anyone, the Government knows it and I believe that the Spanish have the right to know it. This is the position of the Popular Party and these are the two issues that have brought us to sit down in Brussels," emphasized Feijóo, after meet in Brussels with the president of the European People's Party (EPP), Manfred Weber.

This was stated one day after the meeting held in Brussels by the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, and the Deputy Secretary of Institutional Affairs of the PP, Esteban González Pons, with the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, in which they agreed to meet again. on February 12 to unlock the CGPJ.

After ensuring that what they are looking for is for the Government not to "control" Justice, the head of the opposition has insisted that the renewal of the CGPJ - which has been expired for more than five years - and the reform of the law will have to be carried out simultaneously, a demand that the PP has been defending in recent months.

"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 will not "deceive them the second time."

Feijóo explained that it is about renewing the Council, with a "commitment to the regeneration" of the conditions to be part of the Council, and promoting a "new law that deepens judicial independence." "That is why we have met. We have not only met for one of these parts," he indicated.

ASK TO DO BOTH THINGS AT THE SAME TIME

After the failure of the previous negotiation with the Government to renew the CGPJ, Feijóo has made it clear that the PP has "learned" and proposes that there must be a new law and renewal of the Council, "both things" at the same time.

"Here we have not come to talk about names, nor have we come to talk about quotas. Here we have not come to control Justice, here we have come to guarantee the independence of Justice," he stated. That said, he indicated that it is necessary "a transparent" and "automatic" system where "at the end of the five-year period" the new magistrates are elected, without the intervention of politicians.

Feijóo has reiterated that the Government "deceived" them once and is not going to "deceive them the second time." "If we all play fair, we can give good news to Spain, which is so in need at this time to guarantee the rule of law in our country," he added.

When asked if it would be possible to carry out the renewal of the Council first and then the legal reform as demanded by the European Commission, Feijóo indicated that the Commission "has written that in the context of a rule of law report, not in the context of this negotiation." "The context of this negotiation is to talk about everything and until everything is closed we will not be able to agree on anything," he added.

"ATTACKS" ON JUDGES IN SPAIN

Feijóo has expressed his gratitude to the Commissioner of Justice for coordinating a "structured dialogue" between the majority groups, something that, in his opinion, confirms that the rule of law in Spain "is not in good health."

Thus, Feijóo has highlighted that this negotiation takes place in a "limiting situation of the Rule of Law in Spain", alluding to the Amnesty Law and the "attacks" on the judges by Pedro Sánchez's partners.

For this reason, he has highlighted that "more than ever it is necessary to modify the law so that it cannot happen in our country that there are members of the Constitutional Court who have been part of the Government and that there are members of the General Council who correspond to political quotas of the groups parliamentarians".

"We are going to send a message to all Spanish citizens that far from eroding the rule of law in Spain as is being done, what we are going to do is commit that the rule of law in Spain has to continue to be a permanent flag in our democracy ", he indicated.