The Constitutional Court faces a new plenary session tomorrow plagued by abstentions and recusals of magistrates

The former Minister of Justice Juan Carlos Campo has voluntarily withdrawn in almost 20 matters

MADRID, 20 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Constitutional Court (TC) will hold a plenary session starting tomorrow, Tuesday, which will once again be marked by the string of abstentions and challenges of magistrates, among whom it is worth mentioning the former Minister of Justice Juan Carlos Campo, since his colleagues will have to study his decision of departing in almost twenty cases, although the criticism formulated by Vox against him and three other magistrates for not intervening in his appeal against the penal reform also stands out.

This conclave will also be marked by an absence, that of the deliberation on the appeal presented by the PP against the euthanasia law, which was scheduled to take place in this plenary but due to the challenges launched by the 'popular' against Campo and Laura Díez will have to be postponed until the incident is resolved.

Thus, one of the issues that will give the guarantee court the most work at this meeting will be Campo's abstention in a total of 19 issues due to appeals from the Popular Parliamentary Group in the Senate, as well as a recusal incident also related to the former Minister of Justice for 9 issues challenged by 'popular' deputies.

On the agenda there is also an incident of challenge for appeals by PP and Citizens in the Lower House against the former high office of Moncloa for 8 other issues.

Campo and Díez have already abstained -in a decision endorsed by the TC-- from the deliberation of the appeals against the "law of only yes is yes" and the vote on the labor reform, in the case of the former Minister of Justice, and an appeal related to the 25% quota for Spanish in Catalan classrooms, in the case of Díez.

The Plenary also ratified Campo's abstentions in 7 other matters, due to his previous responsibility in the Council of Ministers and his sentimental relationship with the president of the Congress of Deputies, Meritxell Batet; and of Díez in another resource about 25% of Castilian.

Likewise, the Constitutional Court will study the challenge incident against the president of the court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, María Luisa Segoviano, Campo y Díez in relation to Vox's appeal against the penal reform that repealed sedition and modified embezzlement.

Vox pointed to Campo because of his sentimental relationship with Batet and his previous positions as Minister of Justice and Socialist deputy, considering that he could "have a direct or indirect interest" because it is a law "that his former colleagues in the parliamentary group have approved."

As for Díez, the party singled her out for having "participated directly or indirectly in the matter that is the subject of the lawsuit, due to her status as a high position in the Ministry of the Presidency and being a trusted staff of Minister Félix Bolaños."

Regarding Segoviano, he mentioned his statements "while he was an emeritus magistrate of the Supreme Court." Specifically, when she referred to self-determination in the following terms: "This is a very complex issue, extremely complex. It is a subject with many edges that must be studied."

Lastly, de Conde-Pumpido highlighted his "special ties to the government party" and for "having been a defender or representative of one of the parties or having intervened in a lawsuit as a prosecutor."

In addition, the Plenary has another abstention on its hands, that of César Tolosa, who has withdrawn from a matter that went through the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court (TS), of which he was president until entering the TC. According to legal sources consulted by Europa Press, it is an appeal against the medical decision to admit a woman to give birth in a hospital against her will to give birth at home.

Apart from all this, this week the Plenary is scheduled to deal with its second oldest issue --after the "popular" appeal against the abortion law--, an appeal promoted by the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the TS against the Article 19.4 of Law 7/2010, of March 31, General of Audiovisual Communication, in the wording given by Royal Decree Law 15/2012 of April 20.

The debate centers on the fee that radio stations must pay for the retransmission of soccer matches that confronts, on the one hand, the National Soccer League and, on the other, various radio stations.

Likewise, the TC is expected to rule on the appeals of the PP against the Decree-law of the Consell 6/2020, of June 5, for the expansion of public housing in the Valencian Community through the rights of first refusal and retraction; and against various precepts of Royal Decree-Law 1/2021, of January 19, for the protection of consumers and users in situations of social and economic vulnerability.

In the first deliberation, you will also see the challenge by the Catalan Government of several articles of Decree-Law 14/2019, of October 31, by which urgent measures are adopted for reasons of public security in matters of digital administration, public sector contracting and telecommunications.