He Strasbourg court has recognized this Thursday that the candidates to be part of the new CGPJ had the right to have their applications examined within the period established by law, something that has not happened. Also, the Human Rights Court (ECHR) concludes that their right to a fair trial was violated when the Constitutional Court (TC) inadmissible the appeals in which they wielded that right.
The ECHR ruling responds to the demands presented by the six candidates for the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) backed by the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association. They asked the European Court to recognize that the delay in the renewal was violating their right to access public office and that the rejection of their appeals in the TC also violated the bill of rights.
Strasbourg does not condemn Spain directly for the delay, but it does maintain that the provisions contained in the laws for renewal have not been met, which accumulates a delay of more than four years due to the inability of the PSOE and the PP to agree on the new members . And that this right, contrary to what the Spanish Government maintained, could be claimed before the courts.
The ECHR considers that the rights of the applicants were violated in this attempt to claim in Justice that the legal provisions for renewal be complied with. The violation occurred when the Constitutional Court did not provide sufficient reasons for the refusal to examine their appeals for amparo, alleging that they arrived after the deadline.
Strasbourg considers that its appeals were sufficiently well-founded, and the matter was of such importance, for the TC to offer a detailed justification that never came. On the other hand, the ECtHR sees the calculations of dates raised by the plaintiffs as reasonable and those that the TC imposed on the term to appeal are not very solid.