The truce lasted very little. In recent weeks, following the tension over the amnesty law, which led to harsh statements from the judicial world—the Professional Association of the Judiciary (APM), a majority and conservative one, went so far as to say that it represents “the beginning of the end of democracy”—the Government was seeking a pacification of relations with the conservative sector of judges, very clearly opposed to the Executive. Pedro Sánchez’s instruction along these lines is general, but it is Félix Bolaños, the Minister of Justice, who is most directly dedicating effort to this objective. And in La Moncloa they thought they were achieving it. Bolaños personally called many judges to distance himself from the harshest statements of the independentists, he guaranteed them that the Government will defend them and insisted that the Executive does not assume that there is lawfare in Spain.
He even got a meeting this week with the APM, which had decided not to attend his inauguration in a clear gesture of rejection. But all this attempt to reduce the tension was cut short once more this Friday by some statements by the third vice president, Teresa Ribera, in which she reproached the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón for his “desire” to act “in sensitive political moments.” “, in reference to the magistrate’s orders in the Democratic Tsunami casein which he accuses the leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont and the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, of terrorism.
In an interview on TVE, Ribera insisted several times that the judge usually “tilts” his decisions “always in the same direction” and that he discloses them “at opportune moments, with important political implication.” This is a very widespread opinion within the Government, and several ministers express it privately and were especially outraged when García-Castellón made an order in November implicating Puigdemont in the caso Tsunami four years following beginning to instruct him and pointing to a possible crime of terrorism precisely in the decisive week of the negotiation of Sánchez’s investiture, something that for the members of the Executive consulted is hardly coincidental, since nothing similar had been done since 2019, when the investigated events occurred. But it is one thing to think regarding it and explain it in private, something very widespread in the Government, the PSOE and Sumar, and another to say it in public.
The reaction was so immediate and harsh, not only from the PP, which is already promoting the disapproval of the vice president in the Senate and considers her statements to be “extremely serious,” but also from the judicial world, which culminated in a statement once morest Ribera unanimously by the Council. General of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which the progressive members also assumed, that La Moncloa tried to minimize damage by pointing out through a note that “the Government always respects the decisions of the Judiciary although, on occasions, it does not share some of them” and going straight into the matter. “In it Caso Tsunami, The magistrate’s decisions were appealed by the prosecutor in the case, so the legal consideration of the events that occurred as terrorism is pending appeal before the National Court itself. This legal debate will be resolved by the judicial bodies and the Government will, of course, respect the final decision that is adopted. The Government will defend the judges and magistrates of our country from any interference in their work, also from the PP’s attempts to do so,” the text states.
Nobody formally disavowed Ribera. In fact, Óscar Puente, Minister of Transportation and jurist, supported the vice president and said that he agrees with her idea regarding the “temporal coincidences” of García-Castellón’s movements, “since in this last case these are facts of 2019 and it is striking that every time there is a public debate on these issues, a judge’s resolution is produced.” Bolaños has not yet spoken. But the message from La Moncloa shows that the Government maintains its strategy of de-escalation, and this new conflict was not planned. Even so, the Executive insists that this is an “overacting” of both the judicial and political right, and they trust that this controversy will quickly come to nothing.
The CGPJ has always immediately come out to condemn any criticism of a judge by a member of the coalition government in the last five years, but it caused discomfort in the Executive that they did not do the same when PP senator José Antonio Monago criticized the judge José Ricardo de Prada for the sentence of the Gürtel case. De Prada requested protection and the CGPJ did not give it to him with the argument that it was not a case that was being investigated at that time, unlike García-Castellón with the caso Tsunami, and Monago apologized for what he said in the Senate. But these differences generate discomfort in the Executive, which sees the CGPJ discredited following five years of expired mandate and absolutely dominated by the conservative sector closest to the PP.
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The permanent commission of the CGPJ met urgently this Friday electronically, at the request of three conservative members, to respond to Ribera, who had spoken in the morning. The statement, signed unanimously by the seven members of this body (four conservatives and three progressives), describes Ribera’s statements as “contrary to the principle of institutional loyalty” and “to the general duty to respect judicial independence.” “The Permanent Commission considers that these demonstrations, insofar as they undermine the confidence of our fellow citizens in Justice and contribute to institutional deterioration, deserve a resounding rejection, especially if they interfere with an ongoing investigation of the events,” states the text signed by the main body of the Council following the plenary session.
In any case, and although tensions will continue, especially because the amnesty continues and is clearly opposed by the conservative judicial world, which has to make very relevant decisions in its application – what the Supreme Court does will be especially significant – the instruction The attempt to reduce the tension is still in force, and everything indicates that Bolaños will maintain his line of statements and private efforts to try to guarantee the judges that the Government respects their work. The Government’s opinion is very critical of García-Castellón, a conservative judge who has also openly expressed his opinion on the amnesty, thus interfering in the work of the Legislative Branch, and in reality Ribera only conveyed what was discussed privately within the Executive, but The Government’s intention is to try to make this storm last short to try to recover the line of Bolaños’ attempt at reconciliation in recent weeks. Although all the ministers consulted assume that it will not be easy and that the only thing that would really change the tense judicial environment would be a pact between the PSOE and the PP to renew the CGPJ, something that at the moment does not seem imminent.
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