The Government will change the law to guarantee the change of mayors in the Constitutional Court. And it will do it with the utmost speed. Through two amendments presented by the parliamentary groups of PSOE and Unidas Podemos, the bill that reforms the Penal Code and that in its main point erases the crime of sedition from our legal system has been able to do so.
After appointing the former Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, and the former senior government official, Laura Díez, as its magistrates for the Constitutional Court (TC), the Government attended with deep annoyance at the TC's rejection of not validating for the moment these numbers.
And it is that it is in the Constitution itself, in its article 159.3, where it is specified that the 12 members of the TC have a mandate of nine years and that they must be renewed by thirds. That is, four appointments every three years. At this time the correspondence to the Government presents two proposals and to the General Council of the Judiciary another two.
But given the non-renewal of the CGPJ and the chronification of the previous majorities, eight members of the conservative sector have not yet proposed a number. As a three-fifths majority is needed to approve the two numbers, their contest is required for both to be elected. And that is the first area in which the Executive will act. The amendment advanced yesterday by eldiario.es and registered this morning amends the Organic Law of the Judiciary (6/1985) to suppress this requirement of a three-fifths majority. With the modification of article 599.1.1ª a period of 5 working days is established so that "the members of the Council can propose to the presidency candidates for magistrate or magistrate of the TC". Thus, each member will be able to propose a number. At the end of the term, the president of the CGPJ within three business days "will have the obligation to convene an extraordinary plenary session to proceed with the election of the two magistrates." The amendment also states that this plenary session may not be held more than three business days after it is called.
In this plenary session, the candidacies registered by all the members will be submitted to a single vote in which each member of the Council can only support one candidate, with the two magistrates who obtain the most votes being elected. In other words, from a three-fifths majority to a pure simple majority system.
With the new times stipulated by the reform, the renewal of the TC could be completed within 11 business days of the publication in the BOE of the reform. It also includes a section that seeks to prevent the members from refusing to participate in this operation, warning that those who do not comply with the task will incur responsibilities "of all kinds, including criminal."
Today ended the term for amendments to the Bill that reforms the Penal Code. Next week will be voted in presentation and commission next week. And its approval is scheduled for the 15th in plenary session of the Congress of Deputies. Then it will receive the last validation in the Senate and in any case it will be approved before the end of the year.
But once approved and before the counter of those 11 days starts for the CGPJ to nominate its candidates for the TC, the Government acts on another front to already guarantee access to the Campo y Díez TC. And it is that the second amendment of PSOE and Unidas Podemos modifies the Organic Law of the Constitutional Court (2/1979) to de facto change that model of renewal by thirds and enable a formula of partial renewal by sixths.
The point is that if after nine years and three months of mandate of the magistrates proposed by the CGPJ and the Government, "one of these two bodies had not made its proposal, the magistrates appointed by the body that have complied with their constitutional duty." Until now, the TC was arguing that the magistrates proposed by the Government could not be validated as those of the CGPJ were not appointed and the full third was covered. But it is also that the amendment eliminates the verification process that corresponded to the plenary session of the TC, with which Campo y Díez's access to the TC would be immediate.
The spokesman for the PSOE in the Congress of Deputies, Patxi López, has justified this operation via amendments because "there are no precedents for such a serious situation", referring to the non-renewal of the CGPJ, "with Justice kidnapped" and "a PP out of any democratic reality”. The PSOE defends that its reform intends to "restore normality to these institutions" in the face of "an anti-system PP that does not comply with the Constitution and has no sense of State."
For his part, the president of the parliamentary group of Unidas Podemos, Jaume Asens, asked if his group is going to defend the legal modification to change the majorities necessary to renew the General Council of the Judiciary, has defended his position: "We continue to think that the reform of the majorities must be addressed at some point" because "the members who have entrenched there are not going to resign voluntarily."
PSOE and Unidas Podemos registered this proposal in October 2020. But in April 2021 the PSOE disappeared due to the misgivings that it had aroused in the European Commission. And for the moment the position of Pedro Sánchez continues to be that of not recovering that reform. Something that he has said even after the recent breakdown of negotiations with the PP to renew the CGPJ.
