European pressure to Spain depoliticize its judicial power continues to increase. After the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders, warned of the consequences that could result from the blockade of the CGPJ and the laxity regarding the misappropriation of public funds in the process, now it is the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament that has stepped on the accelerator for Spain to react. This organization sent its draft annual report on the Rule of Law to all its members yesterday, and the document, which EL MUNDO has accessed, contains three very clear warnings against the Government of Pedro Sánchez.
The first is an appeal to provide greater independence to the CGPJ, with a legal reform so that at least half of its members are elected by the judges themselves. The second is the request that revolving doors from politics to Justice be prohibited from now on. The third is a call not to reduce in any case the penalties for the crime of embezzlement (nor to eliminate them, as in an amnesty), and even to rectify those that have already been imposed. In fact, the report asks the European Commission to put more pressure on those who “reduce the levels of protection” against this form of corruption of public funds. It is a veiled reference to Spain.
The rapporteur of the report is the Spanish MEP Adrian Vazquez, leader of Ciudadanos, who chairs this parliamentary commission known as JURI. The document he has prepared may receive amendments from the groups in the European Parliament, but the original text is usually hardly modified. A priori, the European PP and the liberals of Renew would support it, and it is likely that it would also have support from the Conservatives and Reformists (the group that includes Vox), with the Hungarian and Polish parliamentarians in the air (it can be clearly stated by alluded to).
Furthermore, socialists in some countries – for example, Germany– share the thesis of the report, JURI sources emphasize. When approved, this document will push in the direction that the Commission has already taken. It will not be binding, but it will give reasons to Reynders, who has already privately conveyed that he completely aligns himself with these postulates, according to the same sources. Even more so, if they finally obtained the endorsement of the European Parliament.
The document is very clear in requesting that the CGPJ election model be changed, as it highlights “the importance of independent judicial councils, which must be composed mainly of judges elected by their peers and have substantial authority over the selection procedures.” , promotion and discipline of judges.