Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Tuesday vowed to adopt the necessary measures to lift the historic deadlock the Constitutional Court caused regarding reforming how judges are appointed and abolishing the crime of sedition.
The country’s highest court decided on Monday to halt the passage of legislation that had already been approved by parliament’s lower house in what was an unprecedented intervention since the country’s return to democracy 44 years ago.
The government, led by his socialist PSOE party, does not agree with the decision but would work within the law to approve the proposed changes, said Sánchez.
“The government will adopt whatever measures are necessary to put an end to the unjustifiable deadlock of the judiciary and the Constitutional Court,” he said from the Moncloa Palace, his official residence.
“In moments of uncertainty, calm and firmness are required,” he added.
The prime minister’s comments come amid a drawn-out political tussle in Spain over the renewal of senior officials in the judiciary, most of whom are politically appointed.
This affects both the General Council of the Spanish judiciary, which governs the Supreme Court, and the Constitutional Court, which upholds Spain’s constitution.
The General Council has been frozen since 2018 when Spain entered into a period of political turmoil and repeat elections that culminated with Sánchez’s PSOE cobbling together a fragile minority coalition in 2019. It nominates two of the 12 magistrates at the Constitutional Court, meaning its stagnation has a domino effect, while four are nominated by Congress, four by the Senate and two by the government.
As things stand, six of the 12 magistrates at the Constitutional Court are conservatives compared to five progressives. Four of the jurists were due to be replaced in June this year, two of whom were appointed by the General Council and two by the former conservative Popular Party (PP) government of Mariano Rajoy.
The court ruling to block the legislation on Monday came following a legal challenge lodged by the PP, now under the leadership of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, which argued it was upholding the constitution.
On Tuesday, Sánchez accused the PP of purposefully flouting its constitutional mandate in order to keep the political balance of Spain’s judiciary tipped in its favour.
Another element of the draft law that has ruffled conservative feathers in parliament relates to a proposed softening of the criminal code that would abolish the offence of sedition, and alter penalties for the misappropriation of public funds – two charges used to convict and jail Catalan separatists in the wake of an illegal, unilateral independence referendum in 2017.
Sánchez has tried to smooth out tensions in Catalonia and in 2021 pardoned nine Catalan political leaders and activists jailed for their involvement in the secession bid.
In May 2023, Spain will hold municipal elections, which many view as the first litmus test for Sanchez’s governing coalition with left-wing Unidas Podemos.
After that, the parties will have to face the general election set for December next year, and the political row with Catalonia is one of the ‘hot potatoes’ in the Iberian political arena.
(José Miguel Blanco, Fernando Heller | EFE, EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
