Sánchez and Feijóo break a five-year impasse and there is already talk of a new era in Spanish politics

The Spanish socialist government and the conservative opposition signed a historic pact. Despite a backdrop of verbal confrontation, insults and high-caliber disqualifications, the two largest parties – Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE, center-left) and Popular Party (PP, conservative) – reached an agreement to unlock the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), one of the fundamental institutions of the democratic State, whose mandate had expired five years ago.

The resolution of the impasse not only puts an end to an entrenched problem but also demonstrates the unknown capacity of the two political forces that have governed the country to sign State pacts. A surprise in the political climate of recent years.

The pact was signed on Tuesday afternoon in Brussels, at the European Commission’s premises and in the presence of its vice-president for Values ​​and Transparency, the Czech Vera Jourová, guardian of the essences of the Rule of Law in the Union. The two top negotiators of the agreement went to the Belgian capital: for the Socialists, Félix Bolaños, Minister of Justice, Presidency and Parliamentary Affairs, as well as Prime Minister Pedro SÃ’s right-hand man. ¡nchez; for the PP, the deputy secretary of Institutional Action, Esteban González Pons, former MEP and one of the people closest to the party president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

PP didn’t want to lose control

The choice of Brussels as the stage for the compromise on the renewal of the CGPJ is justified by the protective role that the Commission has played in recent months, after both parties accepted community mediation , handed over to the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders, who even asked for a temporary dismissal. Much of the negotiations between Bolaños and González Pons took place in the Belgian capital. Jourová assures that the Commission will continue to be vigilant regarding compliance with the signed terms.

The crux of the matter is The reason why the PP systematically blocked the renewal of the maximum body of Spanish judges is the resistance of Feijóo’s party to losing the ideological influence it holds in it.. With its most recent composition dating from the last months of Mariano Rajoy’s mandate (prime minister between 2011 and 2018), the conservative inclination of the CGPJ was clear and the majority presence of members of the associations of magistrates of this wing.

Socialists have demanded, over the last five years, the renewal of the CGPJ in accordance with the electoral results and the formation of the Executive. There were also serious discrepancies between progressives and conservatives regarding the procedure for regulating statutory changes in the Council. The PP defends that judges should elect their representatives in the CGPJ, while the PSOE considers it more democratic for appointments to come from Parliament – Congress of Deputies and Senate – seat of popular sovereignty.

A consensus solution ended up being adopted: for the moment, Government and opposition negotiated the names of the 20 members who make up the new Council, with perfect ideological balance: ten progressives and ten conservatives. These magistrates, coming from the judicial career (12) and jurists of recognized prestige (8) will choose their next president, who will probably be a woman close to the PSOE.

Feijóo’s warning to Sánchez: “Don’t feed illusions”

The subscribers undertake to write, within six months, an opinion that will serve as a manual for the Congress of Deputies to approve a new law that regulates the renewal of the CGPJ for the future. A group to this it will study the systems implemented in other European countries and recommend the most appropriate one for Spanish circumstances. Experts consulted by Expresso believe that the Italian procedure (which inspired the one in force in Portugal) has many possibilities of serving as a model for future Spanish law, which requires the favorable vote of three-fifths of the lower house.

The pact between the Government and the PP covers other aspects of judicial activity, such as the conditions for accessing new members of the CGPJ. Five years will have to pass before those who have held political positions can aspire to a place on the Council. The aim is to avoid the phenomenon of “revolving doors†, circulation between political and jurisdictional positions. It will also be an incentive for unblock pending appointments in other institutions, from the governor of the Bank of Spain to public radio television RTVEpassing through the national Competition or Stock Market commissions.

The heads of the Executive and the opposition, who had no public contacts during the gestation of the “Brussels pact†, met this Wednesday in the weekly debate at the Congress of Deputies. An exultant Sánchez, although his sadness at the death of his father-in-law that morning was clear, welcomed the new attitude of his opponent Feijó: “Welcome to the fulfillment of the Constitution†. He replied that the ruler should not “nurture illusions†.

From the parliamentary rostrum, the PP leader warned: “This agreement is not meant to help you, Mr Sánchez. It serves to put limits on your Government’s voracity in controlling State institutions”. He denies that a new political era has opened in Spain: “We know how to distinguish between opposition to the Government and loyalty to the State†.

Far-right complains of “treasonâ€

Analysts believe, however, that something has really changed. They consider it likely to end the harassment of the Executive with the argument of its alleged illegitimacy of origin, given that it was the PP that won the July 2023 legislative elections, although without the capacity to forge alliances to govern. Feijóo has insinuated that the Government’s days are numbered, but Carlos E. Cué, main political commentator for the progressive newspaper “El PaÃs†, does not buy this thesis: “Nobody would make a pact with another if they thought that he only has a few months left in Moncloa [sede da presidência do Governo]”.

The same newspaper, in an extensive editorial published Wednesday, applauds the agreement as “good for justice, good for politics†, stressing that it “opens spaces of understanding to promote legal reforms that allow progress in shielding judicial independence, placing limits on the excesses of political powerâ€. “El PaÃs†attributes the origin of the blockade now dismantled to “a situation in which the PP kept the government of the judges hijacked, using successive excuses†. “El Mundo†, closer to the PP, writes that the agreement “is probably the least bad of all the possible ones†.

In terms of reactions from other political actors, the variety of considerations draws attention. Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right party Vox, solemnly declared: “The betrayal has been completed.†. He accuses Feijó of having deceived voters by making an agreement with the socialists. The same cruelty, in a different sense, is demonstrated by Ione Belarra, general secretary of Podemos (populist left, party founded by Pablo Iglesias), who criticizes the sudden change of the Executive, “an insult to the pact†.

Parties that supported Sánchez’s investiture as prime minister (Catalan and Basque nationalists and other regionalists) disapprove of the head of Government’s silence on the negotiations. They agree that the PSOE-PP pact opens a new political era, with a new opportunity for the Government. Representatives of the most radical wings of the PP – such as the president of the Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who is fueling a crusade against Sánchez – welcomed the news. “Round success for the president of our party,†they say.

Judges applaud end of impasse

The magistrates’ associations, which bring together a good part of Spain’s 5,500 judges, also express different opinions, Expresso found in contacts with these institutions. “It will be very complicated to resolve the five years of institutional degradation,†predicts Edmundo RodrÃguez, spokesperson for the progressive Judges for Democracy. “What happened was a democratic anomaly of extraordinary gravity. Luckily, it seems that we have started to overcome this situation,” says Sergio Oliva, from the centrist association Francisco de Vitoria.

The unblocking of the CGPJ will soon allow the nominations of 14 Supreme Court magistrates to be completed and the holders’ access to 94 vacancies in the Superior Courts of Justice of the autonomous communities and provincial hearings. The serious paralysis of judicial activity had negative repercussions on the perception that citizens have regarding the functioning of this basic pillar of the Rule of Law. In recent surveys carried out by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS, state-owned), the Justice system always obtained very negative ratings in the opinion of the Spanish.