The PP supports a Citizens initiative to reform the CGPJ election system while negotiating with the PSOE

The Socialists criticize the mistrust of the parties and prevent them from prospering alongside ERC, Junts or the PNV

MADRID, 26 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The PP has supported this Wednesday in the Senate a proposal for a Citizens (Cs) law to reform the method of electing constitutional bodies such as the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Constitutional Court, affirming that it shares the "spirit" of the initiative but criticizing its "poor legal technique", a support that occurs in full negotiation between the 'popular' and the PSOE to renew the governing body of the judges, expired in 2018.

However, despite the support of the PP and also of Vox, the Plenary Session of the Senate has rejected the consideration of a bill that implied at the same time modifications in the appointment of the Ombudsman and the Court of Accounts, after the votes against the PSOE and, among others, Junts, ERC and the PNV.

Fernando de Rosa, senator of the PP, has assured that his party agrees with the substance of the Cs proposal, although he has been against the "opacity" that he appreciates in the creation of committees to elect the members of these institutions.

The 'popular' parliamentarian has opted to "reform" the organic law that regulates the Judiciary "but hand in hand with the PSOE." "The important thing is to convince" the socialists "to join this consensus" that he - he lamented - "does not exist today".

De Rosa has reached out to the PSOE to "settle this debate once and for all", first with the renewal of the CGPJ and then with a reform of the system for electing the members of the Council, so that the 12 of judicial origin elect them judges and magistrates.

"We cannot be deniers of the recommendations of Brussels, we must listen to the judges and magistrates of this country, give them greater participation", he asked, recalling that the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, in his recent visit to Spain reiterated the recommendation that the election mode be changed on that line.

Otherwise, the senator has warned that the arrival of European funds could be jeopardized, as has happened with Poland and Hungary, if Spain "endangers" the rule of law.

For his part, Miguel Sánchez, from Ciudadanos, has defended his own initiative, arguing that the members of the constitutional bodies have to be so because of their "merits and capacity", an essential condition for their "depoliticization" to be guaranteed.

Those of Inés Arrimadas registered this bill in December of last year, but its debate and vote in the plenary session of the Upper House coincided with the negotiation between the PSOE and the PP after the resignation of Carlos Lesmes as president of the CGPJ.

In addition, it includes a series of provisions to "guarantee the ineligibility of those people who, even meeting the necessary requirements for the exercise of this position, are closely related to political parties or unions."

The 'orange' senator, who has considered the current law "immoral" for giving all the power to the political parties to appoint the 20 members of the Council, has reproached both the PSOE and the PP for the fact that during the last four decades they have "distributed" the judges.

Sánchez has denounced that this model has consolidated the labeling of judges as "conservatives" or "progressives." And he has criticized that when the CGPJ is renewed there will be a "gibberish" of new labels, by incorporating "populist, communist, nationalist or separatist" members.

On behalf of Vox, Senator María José Rodríguez has demanded a reform of the law so that the judges choose their governing body with a "personal, direct and secret" vote, without conditions "or endorsements from people or associations of a character political".

Rodríguez has charged against the "bipartisanship" of PSOE and PP for "perpetuating a system of political interference in the institutions" that has meant "the end of the independence of the Judiciary."

Its senator has asked the PP if it is going to continue to be a "participant" in this system, it has made Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party ugly by assuming the "intentional blockade" of the CGPJ again and has reminded him that when he was in government he did not change the law.

But beyond the CGPJ or the Constitutional, from Vox they have also wanted to denounce interference in the Council of State, the CNI, the CIS, the INE or the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

On the side of the 'no', the PSOE has positioned itself, whose senator Santiago Pérez has seen "lack of legal certainty" in the Ciudadanos proposal and has argued that it "displaces" the decision-making bodies that represent the "sovereignty popular", arguing that the Courts have to participate in the process.

Pérez has remarked that popular sovereignty "emanates" from the powers of the State, which affects the Judiciary in the same way. "These things cannot be done in a show of arbitrariness, but very close to the Constitution and its guarantees," he has demanded.

And he has replied to the Popular Party that loyalty to democracy consists of complying with the rules within the deadlines and "both when you are in government and when you are in opposition."

"Distrust is being planted towards the only viable way of articulating democracy with contemporary reality", where parties are "essential instruments", he indicated.