The Supreme Court warns of the collapse of several rooms if there is no renewal of the Judicial Power
The Supreme Court also requires the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary. The government chamber of the high court has decided to address the Council by letter warning of the consequences that they may have if they continue in office and, therefore, without the ability to make appointments: there are chambers that have up to six vacant positions and this situation can lead to the high court to collapse.
Lesmes does not resign and distributes blame between the Government and the PP for the blockade of the Judicial Power
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The current General Council of the Judiciary has more than two years in office since his term expired in 2018. Since then, the Popular Party has refused to negotiate the renewal of the body, among other things, due to the presence of candidate candidates supported by Podemos and more recently due to its proposal to modify the election system. About some months ago a legislative reform It also prevents the CGPJ from making appointments while in office.
The Supreme Government room, chaired by Lesmes, warns of the consequences. They have addressed the Council "expressing their concern about the harmful consequences, already serious in the near future and which will foreseeably increase, which for the functioning of the Court implies the lack of renewal of the governing body of the Judiciary and the consequent impossibility to fill existing vacancies such as those that may arise in the coming months ".
According to the Supreme Court, there are six vacancies in the contentious court, one in the civil court, three in the social court and two in the military court. In addition to those that may arrive in the coming months, especially for retirements. In a statement, he explains, for example, the danger of keeping the social room with vacancies in the face of the avalanche of lawsuits that will come related to the economic crisis of the pandemic: "They are at a juncture in which it becomes more urgent, from the from a legal and social point of view (let's think about the vicissitudes of the pandemic in the world of work), to resolve as quickly as possible some of the issues that they have raised and that will foreseeably continue to arise ".
The government room of the Supreme Court is made up of the presidents of the five chambers as well as several elected members and the Carlos lesmes, in turn president of the General Council of the Judiciary. It is the first time that the Supreme Government chamber has ruled on this matter. In addition to addressing the Council, the chamber has commissioned a report from the technical cabinet to summarize the judicial calendar it expects for the Supreme Court chambers "in the event that the current temporary situation of the General Council of the Judiciary is prolonged."
More than two years in office
The current mandate of the General Council of the Judiciary expired on December 4, 2018. More than a thousand days later, and after several approaches and failed attempts, there is still no agreement for the renewal. At first, the Popular Party based its veto on the presence of members supported by Podemos - including the judge Jose Ricardo de Prada, key in his economic condemnation in the Gürtel case - and later he focused his attention on the election system: the PP now demands that the majority of the members be elected by the judges themselves, something that it did not implement when it was in government .
One of the consequences of the blockade is that the Council cannot make appointments while its mandate has expired. A reform promoted by the partners of the coalition Government, which came into force at the end of March, modified the Organic Law of the Judiciary, preventing new appointments in high judicial instances while the governing body has expired its mandate.
At the moment neither the President of the Council nor the members they have among their plans to resign in sufficient terms to block the functioning of the organism and force a renewal.
