The suspension of negotiations to renew the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), when the political pact was about to be signed, has meant a cold water jug for the members who are close to completing four years in office and that they should follow ccomplying with the prohibition imposed to make appointments in vital positions. In the Council, the sense of “breakdown” of the institutionchaired on an interim basis by the oldest member, Rafael Mozo – a controversial appointment that has been appealed to the Supreme Court – after the resignation of President Carlos Lesmes.
The situation is particularly worrying in the high courtwhich already has vacancies a total of 17 magistrate positions (they will be 18 in December), which means almost a quarter of the total of 79 that should make up this body. The Supreme Court teaches and ultimately resolves matters of vital interest to citizens such as those related to dismissals, divorces, litigation with the administrations, application of taxes, etc.
In the Civil Chamber, which must have ten positions for magistrates, only the square of Anthony Salas, who retired two years ago, and in the Penal one, the 15 positions will be covered until next April that make it up, but the ssituation is critical in the Contentious-Administrative. It should have 33 magistrates in its different sections and already adds ten vacancies -eight due to retirement, two due to death and one due to the appointment of one of its magistrates to another position-, to which the retirement of Octavio Herrero will be added in December. This is the Chamber that has yet to decide on the appeals filed against the pardons of the leaders of the procés.
In the social room, that must settle complex and novel matters, such as those derived from the incidence of covid in the labor market, the situation is even worse. Of the thirteen magistrates who should integrate it, there are already five vacancies, among them, just a few days ago, that of the Presidency held by María Luisa Segoviano, who was the first woman to hold this post and has just retired. Two other retirements are added, one death and one more leave after the appointment of Lourdes Arastey to the Court of Justice of the EU. In the Military Chamber, made up of eight magistrates, there are two vacancies.
Military court inactive in December
According to data collected by El Periódico de España, from the Prensa Ibérica group, the reform promoted by the Government that prevents the CGPJ from making appointments implicates a total of 70 seats, since in addition to the Supreme Certain magistrates cannot be appointed in superior courts of justice or Provincial hearings. In his last speech in front of the Judiciary, Lesmes already warned that 1,000 fewer sentences are being handed down annually and from what next December 21 the Justice Chamber of the Central Military Court will stop acting due to the lack of all its members from the Military Legal Corps, since the vacancies could not be replaced.
Faced with this situation, and according to Europe Pressthe Council itself is studying rescuing a plan devised in times of the former president to alleviate a situation that the Supreme Court’s Governing Chamber itself has described as “unsustainable. It would be, in any case, “patches”As the sending troops to the through reinforcement plans, temporary service commissions or external substitution by professors and senior officials.
These solutions raise questions and they have not yet been applied, since some members of the Council consider that there is no legal basis that allows them to be used to fill vacancies for magistrates. They should also have the approval of the Ministry of Justicefor being the one who must authorize the financial endowment for it.
Unprecedented situation of the CGPJ
If this happens in the courts, in the governing body of the judges, the feeling is one of discouragement, boredom and “breakdown”. In fact, from associations such as the Progressive Union of Prosecutors vowels are called to resign en bloc “in an exercise of coherence, dignity and responsibility”. At the moment, it is a way that the still members of the CGPJ rule out.
The vowels are now 18 (including its president) after the retirement last March of Rafael Fernández Valverde and the death in June of Victoria Cinto. None have been replaced because the Congress of Deputies concluded, based on a report from the chamber’s lawyers, that these were not cases of early dismissal, so the substitutions provided for in the law did not fit.
In addition, Mozo’s presidency has been appealed to the Supreme Court for one of the members, Wenceslao Olea, and by the general secretary of the organ José Luis de Benitowho consider that the legality was breached when the oldest member was chosen, avoiding the automatic substitution of Lesmes by the Vice President of the Supreme Court, Francisco Marín, which was what was indicated in a technical report commissioned for this purpose by the former president himself resigned.
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For now, the high court has summoned the 16 members who voted for Rafael Mozo as interim president to appear as co-defendants in these appeals. It is a legal procedure, but some fear that this call could hide a procedural maneuver to anchor the issue of legitimacysince it is not clear that Olea and De Benito can challenge the agreement adopted on October 13 by the CGPJ Plenary to elevate Mozo.
One of those 16 vowels, José María Macías, has already answered to clarify that he will not appear as co-defendant, and it is most likely that the rest of the members respond in the same way or do not respond to the request. All this, in any case, results in the bad atmosphere that is breathed in the governing body of the longest-serving judges in democracy.