The community vice-president travels to Spain this Monday to assess the situation of the rule of law

He will meet several members of the Government and the presidents of the CGPJ and the TC

BRUSSELS/MADRID, June 12 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Rule of Law, Vera Jourova, will begin a three-day visit to Spain on Monday, where she plans to meet with those responsible for the Government and the Judiciary, within the framework of the annual evaluation that Brussels carries out on the democratic health of the Member States and which will be published this July.

Jourova's visit will start on Monday, when she will meet with the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, with the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, and with his first deputy, Teresa Jiménez-Becerril.

A day later, he will meet with other members of the Government, specifically, with the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños; the economic vice president and economy minister, Nadia Calviño; and the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop. That same Tuesday she is scheduled to go to the Justice Commission of Parliament.

On the last day, he will meet with the presidents of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Constitutional Court (TC), Carlos Lesmes and Pedro González-Trevijano, respectively.

Brussels finalizes its third annual report on the situation of the Rule of Law in the Twenty-seven, where for the first time the Community Executive will present "recommendations" to the governments in addition to presenting the diagnosis of the situation in each country, as it has done so far.

In the case of Spain, last year's report urged overcoming the deadlock in the renewal of the CGPJ as one of the main challenges facing the country within the framework of the rule of law, a renewal that Brussels insists must be chosen by the judges to meet European standards.

Along with the challenge of renewing the governing body of the judges, the Commission also highlighted in its past evaluations of Spain the concern for the independence of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

This visit will take place in the midst of tensions due to the lack of agreement between PSOE and PP to renew the CGPJ, which has expired for more than three years, an interim situation to which four of the twelve magistrates of the TC will also spend next Sunday .

The European Commission has been urging the Government and the opposition to agree on "the best possible renewal" of the CGPJ to remove the governing body of the judges from the interim situation that limits their powers, as well as a "clear commitment" that there will also be a reform of the election system to align it with European standards, which require that at least half of its members be elected by the judges themselves.

Llop considers it "urgent" that the CGPJ be renewed, for which he has demanded from the new leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, "that height of sight" and "that sense of State proper to a party that has governed", according to what he said in recent statements in the framework of the XII Spanish Notarial Congress.

Until now, the PP had proposed as a requirement to reform the election system of members before agreeing on the renewal, although Feijóo admitted last week that the CGPJ should have already renewed it, pointing out that "everyone is not complying" with the Constitution, starting by the Government itself, while advancing that the expectation is to be able to resume negotiations after the Andalusian elections on June 19.