Members of the CGPJ will request an extraordinary plenary session to address the reform of the PSOE to unlock the renewal of the TC

They will request that it be convened for next week before the express processing that the Government has requested from Congress

MADRID, 5 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The nine members of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) who sign a proposal to demand that Congress seek the opinion of the governing body of the judges on the reform promoted by the PSOE to unblock the renewal of the Constitutional Court (TC), will request the President of the Council, Carlos Lesmes, to convene an extraordinary plenary session for next week, after the Executive has asked the Lower House for an express procedure.

The proposal was scheduled to be debated and voted on in the plenary session on June 30, but it was suspended due to the death of the member Victoria Cinto. It was expected that the pending issues would be addressed in the next conclave, scheduled for the next day 21, but the CGPJ sources consulted by Europa Press indicate that these nine members will try to convene an extraordinary meeting beforehand to analyze said proposal.

The same sources explain that the sense of urgency is due to the fact that this Tuesday the Government has requested in a letter to Congress that the Plenary of the Debate on the State of the Nation, which will take place between July 12 and 14, include the debate on this reform of the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ) so that it is approved in one day.

If so, the bill would be approved in the Lower House a week before the CGPJ debated the possibility of urging the deputies to seek the opinion of the Council on this matter, so the proposal of the nine members it would directly lose its object.

Specifically, these members propose to "request the Congress of Deputies to obtain the report of the CGPJ in relation to the organic law proposal presented by the socialist parliamentary group for the reform of the LOPJ in the aspect related to the powers of this Council in the sense of also and fully returning to him the attributions for judicial and governmental-judicial appointments of a discretionary nature".

Also, this group of members -identified with the conservative current of the CGPJ- seeks that the governing body of the judges also address the European Commission to "inform" about the legal reform of the PSOE.

The sources consulted by this news agency pointed out in view of the plenary session convened for June 30 that, although an intense debate was expected that would allow various scenarios to be drawn, the most likely is that the original document would be accepted to agree on a more inclusive one. that also attracts the members of the progressive wing.

The aforementioned sources agreed that the most controversial point is the one that raises going to the European Commission, so it could be sidelined to facilitate the agreement. However, they differed regarding the communication to Congress, since while some defended limiting it to a mere reiteration of the need to renew the CGPJ as soon as possible, others understood that it should reflect the discontent of a part of the CGPJ with the legal reform of the PSOE.

If the positions become entrenched, the current configuration of the CGPJ predicts a tight vote in which Lesmes' vote would be decisive because, as President of the Council, he casts a quality vote that always opts in favor of the option he has chosen. precisely to break the tie.

However, it should be remembered that on previous occasions members considered progressive have aligned themselves with their so-called conservative colleagues, so it would be possible that this tie would not even occur, thus allowing the approval of the proposal.

With this proposal, the members reacted to the decision of the PSOE to reform the LOPJ again to allow the CGPJ to appoint the two magistrates of the TC that correspond to it so that the four magistrates of the court of guarantees whose mandate expired on the 12th of June can be replaced.

The problem raised is that these four magistrates form the third that must be renewed by the Government and CGPJ, each proposing two candidates, but the Council cannot make appointments due to the reform of the LOPJ approved in March 2021 that prevents it from making use of of this faculty while in office, a situation in which he has been for more than three years.

"As can be read in the explanatory memorandum, the purpose of the reference proposal is to avoid the difficulties that the current text entails for the renewal of constitutional bodies," the critical members pointed out in their letter.

However, in his opinion, "such justification is contradictory and incoherent" because "the court of guarantees is as much a constitutional organ as are the courts and tribunals, served by judges and magistrates who are members of the Judicial Power whose superior, in all orders It's the Supreme Court."

Last year's reform has prevented the CGPJ from filling the vacancies that have arisen in the judicial leadership, which has placed some rooms on the verge of collapse. Last week, the Supreme asked the CGPJ to transmit to Congress and the Senate its "unsustainable" situation.