The TC resumes the Plenary to decide if it admits the appeal of the PP to stop the reform that seeks to renew the court

After more than four and a half hours of debate in the morning session, the magistrates have yet to vote on the admission

MADRID, 19 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The eleven magistrates of the Constitutional Court (TC) have resumed at 5:00 p.m. the extraordinary plenary session held this Monday to decide whether to admit the appeal for amparo presented by the PP where they ask to stop the parliamentary processing of two amendments by which the system of election and arrival of the two candidates to the TC that must be appointed by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), according to legal sources consulted by Europa Press.

The plenary session began at 10:00 a.m. but during tomorrow's session the magistrates limited themselves to debating whether the matter - appeal plus related petitions - should be resolved in the courtroom where it had occurred or in plenary session to finally resolve -- by 7 votes against 4-- that it be the latter who deliberates and decides on all the issues that are currently on the table.

The appeal of the PP had fallen in the Second Chamber of the Constitutional Court, headed by the vice-president of the TC, Antonio Xiol --of the progressive bloc--, but with a tie to three between magistrates of the latter and the conservative bloc. In plenary session, on the other hand, the balance leans in favor of the latter, with a majority of six magistrates compared to five.

Thus, the sources indicate that the first matter to be discussed in this afternoon session is the decision to accept or not appeal the PP, the second item on the agenda after the plenary appeal, although the main unknown to be cleared up is which It will be the third point that the eleven magistrates address in this extraordinary plenary session, in case they give free rein to the admission for processing.

According to the aforementioned sources, the progressive wing --made up of five magistrates-- will try to make the challenges formulated by Unidas Podemos (UP) against the president of the TC, Pedro González-Trevijano, and the magistrate Antonio Narváez be the next point to treat because, if so, an incident will have to be opened that will cause the suspension of the procedure until it is resolved, giving the Senate time to approve said amendments next Thursday.

On the other hand, the conservative bloc -with six magistrates- will ensure that the debate continues with the discussion of the very precautionary measures requested by the PP in its appeal, since, if agreed, they would cause the urgent suspension of the parliamentary process, thus stopping the reform that seeks to renew the TC.

In this sense, some sources add that the request to remove González-Trevijano and Narváez is made in writings where UP first and PSOE later ask to appear, for which reason they maintain that until the TC resolves the question of appearance neither of the two they are part of the procedure and it would not be possible to study the claims they make, including the recusals.

In the last few hours, UP has presented a new letter where it asks the Constitutional Court to submit a preliminary ruling to the CJEU so that the community court can clarify whether González-Trevijano and Narváez should abstain, a second way that would also lead to the suspension of the procedure until this question get an answer.

Since last Friday, the TC has received a dozen new letters signed by UP, PSOE, PP and Vox. And it should be remembered that the progressive magistrates managed a day before, on Thursday, that the extraordinary plenary session be postponed to this Monday, claiming, precisely, that new writings had entered that they had to study in depth.

In addition, some sources emphasize that the Organic Law of the Constitutional Court (LOTC) supports the suspension, in whole or in part, of the effects of the appealed decisions "as long as (...) it does not cause serious disturbance to a constitutionally protected interest nor to the fundamental rights or freedoms of another person".

In line, they emphasize that in its more than 40 years of history the TC has never prevented discussion and voting in the Cortes Generales, so it would be an unprecedented measure that - they allege - would cause a "serious disturbance" due to interference in the Legislative Power and the affectation of the rights of the rest of the deputies and of the citizens they represent.

However, the sources admit that the number of factors that could end up influencing the final decision makes it difficult to predict what it will be, so everything will depend on how the debate between the magistrates runs.

The Congress of Deputies approved the bill with its amendments last Thursday after the president of the TC opted to suspend the extraordinary plenary session of that day and call another one for this Monday.

According to sources from the court of guarantees, he did so after the five progressive magistrates threatened not to deliberate or vote, if they were not given more time to study a matter of great "complexity" and "relevance" that they had barely heard about. 24 hours before. If they had left, they would have prevented the 'quorum' of at least 8 magistrates that is required for the Plenary to be validly constituted.