The Senate gives the green light to the processing schedule for the reform of the Penal Code pending the decision of the TC

The PP is left alone asking the Bureau of the Justice Commission to suspend the processing

MADRID, 16 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Board and Spokespersons of the Senate Justice Commission have ratified this Friday the processing schedule for the reform of the Penal Code, which modifies the Constitutional Court (TC), repeals the crime of sedition and changes the penalties for embezzlement, pending of the pronouncement of the court itself on whether it meets the request of the PP to stop the parliamentary course of the norm.

According to what parliamentary sources have informed Europa Press, the bodies of the Justice Commission that are in charge of ordering the session have met this Friday electronically to give the green light to the deadlines in which this reform of the Criminal Code will be processed in the High camera. Here, the PP has asked to suspend the process, but no group has supported this proposal, although there has been a general complaint about the urgency.

In this way, the law that repeals sedition, changes the penalties for the crime of embezzlement and reforms the majorities for the TC, has already entered the Senate this Friday after Congress approved it this Thursday.

According to the deadlines approved today, the groups have until Monday, December 19 until 2:00 p.m. to present their vetoes --amendments to the entirety-- and the partial amendments they deem appropriate. The following day, Tuesday morning, the Justice Commission will meet to address these amendments and approve the opinion of the law, which will go to the plenary session on Thursday, December 22, when its parliamentary processing would end in the case of no change is made.

All this processing schedule in the Senate is subject to the decision taken on Monday by the extraordinary Constitutional Plenary on the request of the PP to stop the parliamentary course of the reform of the court itself.

The decision made yesterday by the president of the TC, Pedro González-Trevijano, to suspend the extraordinary plenary session that began this Thursday to continue it next Monday allowed the bill and the set of amendments that it carries to be voted on Thursday in the Congress of the Deputies.

Thus, the decision that the Constitutional Court finally takes on the very precautionary measures requested by the PP in its appeal for amparo --with which it seeks to stop the parliamentary processing of the amendments that affect the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the TC-- will have a direct impact on the course of the bill in the Senate.

In any case, if the parliamentary process finally goes ahead in the Senate, this reform of the Criminal Code will not be in the Upper House for even a week, since it entered this Friday and could be definitively approved on Thursday, December 22.

In other words, the reform of the Penal Code will complete its processing in the Cortes Generales in just over a month. And that is a proposal for an organic law to reform the Penal Code, what jurists call 'The Constitution in negative', which not only addresses the end of the crime of sedition for which the leaders of the 'procés', but also transposes European directives on dual-use weapons smuggling, includes an aggravation of penalties for concealment of the body and via amendment it is also intended to create the crime of illicit enrichment or even modify that of embezzlement.