Doubts about when the effective dismissal of the until now president will take place also cloud the Plenary Session of the CGPJ scheduled for Thursday, which will settle the thorny issue of substitution
The resignation of the president of General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Carlos Lesmes, and the “progress” -which until now has not materialized- in the face of an agreement between the PSOE and the PP to renew this constitutional body leave more doubts than certainties, among them, when will the cessation of the head of one of the three powers of the State, the judiciary, take place and by whom will this power be represented in the acts of the national holiday next Wednesday, October 12.
The key will be the publication of the dismissal in the Official State Gazette (BOE), once Lesmes has already formalized his resignation, which has been communicated to the head of the Royal House, the Government, and also the presidents of the Congress of Deputies, the Senate and the Constitutional Court. From this moment, Lesmes has lost control over the terms of his resignationwhich will be effective at 00:00 on the day following the publication of the Royal Decree of cessation.
That means that, unless the document is published this Tuesday, Lesmes will continue to be the institutional representative of the Judiciary in Spain on the day of the national holiday. Sources the Council point to The Newspaper of Spain, of the Prensa Ibérica group, that since he announced a possible resignation, during his speech at the opening of the judicial year on September 7, the still president of the CGPJ has been mentioning to those closest to him that did not “see sense” to his attendance at the celebrations of October 12Therefore, despite continuing to be the president of the governing body of the judges, it is foreseeable that he will not attend them. For this reason, the unknown is now open as to how the Judiciary will be represented in this act.
Substitution problem
The answer has a lot to do with the controversy that is now opening up within the Council, since the relief planned by Lesmes – commissioned a technical report for this purpose – has few signs of being the one that will finally be produced. According to this report and once the dismissal is agreed by the King – by means of a royal decree endorsed by the Prime Minister and published in the BOE – the substitute for Lesmes must be the president of the First (Civil) Chamber of the Supreme Court, Francisco Marin Castan, since being the oldest is the one who acts as vice president of the acting high court.
According to Lesmes’s plan, his appointment to the head of the Supreme Court and the Council would take place more or less automatically, and it seems that it will happen in the high court, although the scenario in the CGPJ is quite different. A large sector of members reject that they can be impose a president without having any participation in this decisionand the matter will be revealed in the plenary session next Thursday, in which six progressive members have introduced as an item on the agenda that the “assessment -and, where appropriate, decisions that legally proceed- of the plenary after the dismissal of the president of the General Council of the Judiciary & rdquor ;.
This group of members, who make up those appointed at the proposal of the PSOE Álvaro Cuesta, Rafael Mozo, Concepción Sáez, Pilar Sepúlveda, Enrique Lucas, Clara Martínez de Careaga and Roser Bach, they consider that the substitute in the CGPJ, at least until its members elect their new president, should be the oldest member, who is Mozo. There are also doubts about the automatic imposition of Marín Castán among the members of the conservative sector, and the doubt extends to who should finally be the representative of the Judiciary in the acts of the 12th if Lesmes finally does not attend. There may even be no representation beyond the members or magistrates who attend as guests.
With regard to the plenary session on the 13th, Council sources tell this newspaper that during the session it is expected to reach decisions that “transmit tranquility and support to the institutions“, something that is difficult to risk due to the thorny issue of substitution. As the first item on the agenda, another objective included by Lesmes is also maintained: “Appointment of magistrates of the Constitutional Court to evaluate the work carried out by the Negotiating commission set up for this purpose, and, where appropriate, assessment of possible candidacies for the aforementioned court”. This is an issue that seems to have receded into the background after Lesmes’ resignation, so no one believes that they can reach any agreement.
Anger with the conservative sector
On the other hand, details about Lesmes’s decision are becoming known, which despite the fact that it seemed something everyone expected, was surprising for being announced on Sunday afternoon. That same day, according to the sources consulted by this newspaper, the president communicated informally with political interlocutors -Minister Félix Bolaños and popular MEP Esteban González Pons-, but their vague answers about the lack of communication to renew the body accelerated their decision.
Other sources indicate that Lesmes leaves the Council in solitude and with great anger with its members for being unable to reach a consensus to appoint the two magistrates of the Constitutional Court that correspond to them by quota, despite the fact that the public reproach in their explanations for resigning has been directed at politicians. Especially with those from the conservative sector, who seem to have positioned themselves in positions closer to the interests of the PP than to compliance with the law.