Spain’s domestic political deadlock over judicial reform, including the replacement of four of the twelve judges of the Constitutional Court whose terms expired in June, dominated discussions in the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties on Thursday 12 January, when the discussions were supposed to focus on the general state of the rule of law in Spain.
The Spanish Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop Cuenca, and MEPs of Spanish origin, including those from the Partido Popular belonging to the EPP group, spent most of the hearing inveighing against each other, accusing each other of “disloyalty”, without allowing a debate on other crucial issues raised, such as the possible use of Pegasus software by Madrid against political opponents or the events in Melilla last June which led to the death of dozens of migrants from Morocco.
Indeed, the Spanish right has for years opposed the renewal of the members of the Spanish Judicial Council, on the grounds that the composition of its members is too political and would serve the Socialist government of Pedro Sánchez.
ECR member Patryk Jaki, from Poland, took the opportunity to ask why Poland had been criticised for the composition of its judiciary when the practice of political appointments was the same in Spain.
Sophie in 't Veld (Renew Europe), from the Netherlands, urged the different parties to reach an agreement.
The European Commission is also concerned about the blockage. On 29 September, European Commissioner Didier Reynders visited Madrid and asked that the Judicial Council “be immediately renovated, so that the system can then be reformed in accordance with European standards, which recommend that the members of this council be elected by their peers”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)